Legend of the Lionheart
by Chasey-gryffindor221B
Summary: When Harry and Hermione get captured by stange black creatures in their third year, it's up to their friends Celeste and Ron to save them. What happens when their simple rescue mission turns into a bid to help save the entire of Middle-Earth? What happens when Cel fnds out that she is the Lionheart, destined to help, with the Fellowship of the Ring, to save their world?
1. Chapter 1

Why did I have to be such a stupid moron? Attacking Harry like that; it's just marking my first victim.  
Running, I think is much easier when you're running to (hopefully) your death. It's what I want now. Nobody attacks 'the-boy-who-lived' and gets away with it, even if that person is his god-sister- who is also the daughter of the murderer who just broke out of prison, which nobody else had done before.  
Do you want to know what happened?

~~ Flashback ~~

_20 minutes earlier..._

_It's Christmas Eve. Yay (!) first time with no friends over the holidays, who would care? Not me, surely?_

_I glance at the clock on the wall; 11:50am. I slept in till 9, and the dorm was empty apart from me; Hermione went down to breakfast without me. She, Ron and harry have been avoiding me a lot in the last 3 days. I didn't ask for a murderous criminal as a father! Nobody would!_

_Starving, (I haven't eaten in at least 2 days...) I made my way down to the Gryffindor common room, which I thought was empty, leaving my wand on my bed. But, when I reached the floor, I saw three of the people who used to be closer to me than anything or anyone else._

_Silently and with my head down- so my hair covered my face, I bee-lined for the portrait hole, but, halfway there, someone grabbed my left forearm and I squealed quietly in pain._

_"Celeste." the person stated an invisible tone of pity and sympathy in their voice. I went to walk, but they held onto my arm tighter then spun me around, so that I faced them. Harry Potter stood there looking at me. "I don't want to talk to you." I said, trying to get away, attempting to wrench my arm from his grasp._

_This however, causes more suspicion to harry, as I'm now almost yelling at him in pain. He loosens his grasp on my arm, and gets Hermione to pull off my jacket, all three of my fellow gryffindors gasping at what they saw: my arms covered in small, horizontal cuts and scars, and one word carved into my right wrist; __**TRAITOR.**_

_Harry regains his grip on my arm, still staring at the scars, unable to wrench his eyes away._  
_"Let go!" I scream at him, and he then protests, saying he wants to find out what happened, yeah (!) like I want to tell him (!)_

_With each attempt to leave, Harry pulls me further into the room. I swear I was stronger than him two months ago…_

_Eventually, I had enough. I lash out with my right hand, screaming at Harry to 'Piss off'. My nails caught Harry's face, and within seconds, he had three lines of attack on his face, all bleeding._

_Shock made me freeze for a moment. Did I really just do that? But I don't want to face the truth anymore, so I fled. Running full out towards the staircases, not caring where I end up, as long as it ended this hell – one that I'd gotten myself into._

~~ end flashback ~~

The edge of the forbidden forest had just past me, but I didn't stop. Not until I reached the small lake at the heart of the forest, with trees so dense, the castle and sky were hidden from my sight. Despite all the dementors and snow around, I don't feel the least bit cold, wearing wet (from melted snow and tears), ripped jeans and a short sleeved top. I fall to my knees when I reach the water's edge and then onto my butt, hugging my knees into my chest. Thinking, the only, quick way of death now is pneumonia, but, I'm having second thoughts. Running away from Hogwarts and all of this would be much easier. I mean, it's not like they bloody cared about me anyway! The 3 people, who I thought were my friends, didn't even bother following me out here. Yeah, okay, I did attack one of them... but -  
I can't face them again.

In anger I rip the necklace I received from my parents from when I was little from around my neck and throw it, as hard as I can, into the lake, where it sinks to its depths, unable to be seen by the normal eye.

There's the sound of footprints heading toward me in the background, but I don't react; I just continue to stare at the opposite edge of the lake.

Before my mind registers what's going on, a jacket is thrown over my shoulders and somebody sits down beside me. Tears spring my eyes as I turn to see the three long scratches going down his face. But I hold them back; now is not the time to be going weak.

Harry turns to face me, and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, a pair of hands are lifting him up and carrying him away.

The other footsteps aren't Ron and Hermione's, I don't know who's they are. The group of about 20 creatures all look a bit like this:

Uruks3

I swear I know these people, but what are they doing here? Not thinking, but going with my gut feeling, I stand, before the creature's friend can pick me up also, and race over to the nearby tree, where I know there are some weapons hidden in the hollowed-out trunk.

Sprinting over and already out of breath, I pick up the sword; it's the best choice for this type of combat, and I begin fighting for survival against these unwanted visitors.

I've killed 5 before any of the others have realized what's going on. The creature that began carrying Harry is absent, looking around, I realize this and get caught off guard by a foe, who throws me into the tree nearby.

The force of impact makes me let go of my sword, leaving me defenseless. I hope the battle does not go downhill from here, and I plan to not let it too. I scream for Ron and Hermione, who quickly arrive. They look shocked at what they see before them, and don't react until I scream at them "What the hell are you two staring at, huh? Can I have a bit of help here PLEASE!"

The two charge into the fight, just as one of the beasts rams me back into the tree as I try to copy my fellow Gryffindors. I am immobile and defenseless, when something is stabbed into my stomach, but I resist the pain; there is too much around me anyway. I head-butt the guy holding me to the tree, and then run to pick up my sword. A strange cry rings in the air and the weird animals run into the trees, leaving their dead behind. Standing straight, with my sword in hand, I realise that I'm covered in this black blood; which is clearly not mine!

I try to take a step forward, but the pain in my abdomen makes me fall to the floor. On my hands and knees, I look around the clearing to see only Ron running to my aid. _No…_

_They got Hermione too._

Ron runs up to me and helps me sit back. When I do, I place the sword back in its scabbard and try to stand again.

"Can you fetch me the jacket?" I ask Ron, indicating the jacket still lying beside the water's edge. He runs over and fetches it. I nod in thanks and tie it around my waist. The cold isn't affecting me and I need to stop myself from bleeding to death, anyway.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asks, going to sit down next to me. I look at him in horror and he stops, standing upright again. I look at him and say, "We're going to rescue them, so come on: help me to my feet." He suddenly looked horrified at what I suggested. But he helps me to my feet all the same.  
I smile at him and then jerk my head in the direction of the hollowed-out tree. Ron takes the hint and, by supporting me from under my left elbow, we manage to limp over. He lets go of my arm as I sink my hand into the tree, and pull out:

A spare sword (Which is instantly handed to Ron)

A quiver of arrows and a bow- which I place on my back

Two daggers, one I place in my right shoe, and the other, I hand to Ron, who loops it through his belt, next to his wand.

After that, I looked to the floor, and began following the tracks that the retreating party left, leading deeper into the forest, away from the school.

Mind on task, I forget that I've been injured, and set off at a run; Ronald Weasley struggling to keep up, but not wanting to tell me to slow down, indicating that he too, has his mind set on only one thing:  
Rescuing his two best friends. And from now, because of recent events, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are both in danger, all because I had to be totally selfish and run out into the forest.

**MEANWHILE...**  
**3rd Person POV.**  
Hermione Granger and Harry Potter were both stunned. How could such creatures exist? Did they work with Sirius Black? And where were they being taken? They were desperate for the answers.

Neither dared to speak, in fear of being beaten more than they were already.  
But they were both thinking of one thing- or rather one person:

Celeste. They both saw her get stabbed and now they were being taken, with heavy hearts, away from what they thought was the scene of her murder.

Neither could move their hands or bodily positions, due to the fact that they both were in this predicament:

pttturuk1

But they could look around, although they never met eyes, taking in their surroundings instead.

What they noticed first was that after ten minutes, the density of the trees changed dramatically, turning into a different wood type and becoming extremely dense, at least 200% thicker than they were before.

Three days and nights running from the creatures later, and the two 'Istari' were delivered to here:  
7728_orig

Where a man, dressed in white was awaiting them, a foul look upon his face.  
Man? No, he was Saruman the White, one of the five famous wizards in Middle-Earth. And he wasn't impressed.

Why? Isuldur's bane had been discovered and was in the hands of a Hobbit.

AND THESE WERE **NOT** HOBBITS!

Poor kids, they had no idea what they were in for, and when they did, would they blame Celeste, for getting them into that predicament?


	2. Unfriendly Greetings

3 days. Constant tracking that meant no food or rest. Ron and I rarely drank, as we had, and still don't have any ways of storing water and carrying it with us.

The trees around us are not like the ones by the school, and I don't think there are any of these ANYWHERE in Britain…

_So what's going on?_

The only upside to the situation is that I can see the sky, which is spectacularly cloudy today. And, actually warmer that usual- isn't it supposed to be winter?

I stare down at the floor, in search of the tracks, when I realize that Ron's sat down and the tracks stopped ten feet ago.

"God fucking DAMNIT!" I scream in fury and punch the tree that's to my left. I don't punch it that hard, so I'm sure that I won't break my hand. The last thing I need right now is another injury.

I lean on the tree, placing my head on the bark; tears threatening to spill.

I didn't do it; they're gone.

Worry then begins to set in. I fon't know how far Ron and I have actually walked/ran, and how to get back to Hogwarts. (A/N I gotta get back to Hogwarts, I gotta get back to school! Yay for Starkid!)

"Celeste." Ron says, his voice cracking. I turn around to look at him and nod; indicating for him to continue, "What are we -"

He's cut off by the sound of human footprints and some of a horse, making contact with the uneven ground.

The two of us are silent, listening to the sound of the footsteps, which stop nearby and voices begin a conversation about food.

Twenty or so seconds later, after hearing the voices begin, they stop and a single pair of teps (the heaviest sounding) begin heading in our direction that I'm no longer facing.

Ron stands and pulls the sword our of its scabbard, which is secured in his belt. I mouth to him, "Do you have any idea how to use that?" but I never receive my reply, as two short people then suddenly tackle the ginger, Ronald Weasley to the ground: sitting, or rather lying on his arms to keep him there, wrestling the weapon from his grip.

They'd appeared by running silently around the other side of the tree; a blind spot. Stupid me for resting here!

A sudden thought then goes through my mind: somebody might attack me from behind, and I won't be able to defend myself.

So, in a quick breath, I remove the knife that's hidden in my left boot, hold it- ready to wound my next attacker. I turn around.

The next few events occur so fast.

Almost instantly after I turned around, a tall stranger, with a hood that was covering his/her face tries to punch me in my nose. I duck under his punch and quickly retaliate with an upper cut to their jaw.  
The person stumbles backwards and their hood is thrown off their face; revealing a man- around 40 with VERY dirty shoulder length black hair.

Anger invades the person's face, and the man- now unmasked- lunges forward and grabs my plat in his hand, pulling it with a large amount of strength, that was painful to endure.

Reacting, but not thinking, I bite the person's hand. Hard. And I keep biting harder, until I draw blood- which really didn't take that long due to the fact that I always bite people pretty hard.

The man roared in pain, and then, possibly out of instinct, he- with his free arm- managed to free his now bloody hand from my grip, before shoving me into a tree; my knife getting knocked out of my grip and falling to the ground, a fair distance away.

I become dazed slightly, but I still try to fight. As I walk forward- just one step- the man unsheathes his sword, pushed me back against the tree, but this time, he holds his weapon against my throat.

My heart begins beating at a stupidly fast rate, but my breathing now comes in short, quick spurts, indicating that I was absolutely petrified with fear.

"Who are you?" he hisses at me. "Why are you following us?"

I open my mouth to reply, but my voice doesn't seem to work. The guy snarls, and pushes the sword closer to my throat; I can feel two drops of blood begin trickling down my neck, from where the sword has dug into my skin already.

"I'll ask you again… WHO ARE YOU!" he spat, shouting the last part. I was so scared, but I tried to keep calm- which didn't work.

"Celeste Black!" I screamed in terror. "My name's Celeste Black, and that's Ronald Weasley over there." I said, nodding over to where Ron was still being at on. "And we weren't trying to follow you, sir. Honest!" I hold my breath, when I finished. He ponders my reply for a moment, and then he removes the sword from beside my throat, and replaces it in his scabbard.

I let out a small sigh of relief, but wince at the sting the cut on my neck gave me when I did; reminding me that it was bleeding. I immediately placed a hand on it; in hope that the flow of blood would cease soon.

Stepping away from the tree, I realize that the two short people who were sitting on Roin were being lifted of him by their two friends, who were all similar heights, and the guy who'd just tried to decapitate me, was bringing a pony, loaded with equipment into view.

Ron lept to his feet and quickly walked over to where I was standing, not too far away from the others. The two who had tackled him to the ground murmured "Sorry, mister" as he walked past. As Ron stood next to me, his face began to take in the severity of the situation. "Are you alright?" he asks me. I reply with a nod, picking up my knife, which was now beside my feet, and placed it in my left boot. (I'm left-handed, so what?)

Someone cleared their throat near us. Ron and I both turned to look at who it was. The five others were waiting for us, with looks of impatience on their faces. "Are you coming with us or not?" one of the shorter people asks with a shout. I then take in, that five of the people infront of me are all men, and that I'm the only female person here- but it doesn't faze me.

I don't know how to reply to that question, however. They've just tried to kill us, and now they're asking the two lost kids to travel with them. I look at Ron for support on the matter, but he's already saying "We're coming, don't have a cow".

The strange 5 then begin to walk away from us, with Ron deciding to follow. I'm wondering if I could just stay there, where I was, but that would mean leaving Ron with those people, and I still don't trust the tallest one. So I follow, and walk beside my ginger acquaintance in case some trouble arises.

_**~~~ Later ~~~**_

We walked for hours in an uncomfortable silence, until, having enough of it; the short one with the sandy hair introduced us to his traveling party.

His name was Samwise Gamgee, but preferred to be called Sam. The two who tackled Ron were Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, but also preferred to be called something else: Merry and Pippin. The last short one, who I noticed from time to time was clutching a ring in his fist was Frodo Baggins, though Sam was looking worried when he told us that, and he kept glancing every now and then at me; does he really think that I'm untrustworthy?

The last guy; the one who tried to cut my throat is Aragorn, who introduces himself. But the other four: Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin, call him 'Strider'.

"Strider?" I ask when they first said, "What kind of name is 'Strider'?"

Aragorn/Strider- whatever his bloody name is, turned to face me, and calmly replied "You ask that, but what kind of a name is 'Celeste'?"

I can hear Ron sniggering beside me, as 'Strider' turns forward again.

"Touché." I say, smiling myself.


	3. The Weathertop incident

We traveled for around three days, stopping here and there for rest during the night. Aragorn/Strider and I would go and hunt for food, while Ron and the four Hobbits (That's what I learned their race are called.) set up the campsite.

We only came up without food once- on the second day. I never knew how much a person could whine about not being fed for twenty-four hours.

The two times that we were successful in getting food, Aragorn (Man, that's really annoying to keep saying- is there any way I could shorten it? Give him a nickname?) Managed to get a fricken stag, whilst I managed to only obtain four or five rabbits.

The morning of day two began with a long hike through some bogs and marshes. The swampy water was full of mosquitoes, which just bit everybody. Merry and Pippin were just slapping themselves stupid trying to kill them. "What do they eat, when they can't get Hobbit?" Merry exclaimed angrily, still slapping his face. I know from personal experience, that hitting mosquitoes will do more harm than good. Mainly to the person slapping the bugs, as they normally keep hitting themselves.

That night, I honestly couldn't sleep at all. Without trying to ignore the fact that I've gotten two of my closest 'friends' kidnapped in a place that can have any tricks up its sleeve to throw at the inhabitants, I had a lot on my mind. With thoughts going at thousands of miles an hour, I sat upright, long after the rest had fallen asleep. Looking around, I noticed something, there are no mozzies now; no chance of getting bitten to fuck while we rest.

I stand up and without stepping on any of the others, tip-toe over to the rock, not too big, but large enough so someone could lean back on it. Which I did. I sat down, and rested my bruised back onto the rock. It was not covered in moss or something horrible unlike the rest of this place, so it was a bit uncomfortable, but it did remind me a bit of home. Sitting beside the Black Lake while Hermione and Ron would argue about that stupid cat and the rat that would just hide for weeks on end, while Harry and I would just get on with things that mattered; ignoring the shouts… It made me tear up, but situations like this would help keep my sanity, until we returned there. Or what the others thought was home, anyway.

I sighed. It wasn't really the time to be getting philosophical. I stared out to the horizon and began quietly singing one of my all time favorite songs:

watch?v=isTpQxfdMCU

"That was beautiful." I heard someone say. I looked and saw that Aragorn was awake.

"It was just something that I remember of the top of my head." I say as he rises and comes to sit opposite me. "Did I wake you?" I sit upright, crossing my legs and resting my hands on my lap.

He shakes his head. "No, I'm just a very light sleeper." I nod, knowing how it is to sleep light. I look to my right, at the horizon. This guy looks so much like my dad it's unnerving, sometimes I just can't look at him, in fear that he'll try to get out of me where Harry is…

"You never said before." He starts to say and I know what's got to happen next. "Where you're from, and why you were in the woods."

"It's a long story." I say, hoping that he wouldn't press on the matter, but it had only just turned nightfall, and there was plenty of time for a night-time conversation.

"We've got time." He said, confirming my thoughts. "Why don't you start at the beginning?" But that's the thing; I don't know where TO think as the beginning. So I just start by talking about my first two years at Hogwarts, having to stop sometimes to explain stuff which Aragorn would ask me about, like what was Snape like, and pretty soon I had also explained about Voldemort and the first Wizarding War, and pretty much everything that he needed to know, by the time the Hobbits and Ron had woken, and the sun was rising in the sky. But I left out the information about animagi, my father and the self-harm thing. Oh, and the injury I obtained that horrible day.

We set off after a quick route plan, and then spent another few hours, getting bitten by the returning mosquitoes and struggling to wade through the marshes. But, eventually we managed to get ourselves and the Pony (Which Sam has christened Bill) out of the marshes and back onto dirt tracks.

Just before 4pm that same day, while Ron was explaining about magic to a very awe-struck Merry and Pippin and I was walking at the front with Aragorn for once, I began feeling a twinge of regret. I thought that I had told Aragorn all about Hogwarts a bit too early; I still don't trust him 100%. I've known him two days, and in the first 10 minutes, he tried to kill me, like twice.

Due to this thought battle; I hadn't noticed that we'd arrived at the bottom of a hill; with the ruins of an old castle of the top, worn away by time. And that Aragorn has stopped and was looking at it.

"This was the great watch tower of Amun Sul." He explained to me as I stopped walking also. "But it is more commonly known as the 'Weathertop'."

I nod once, showing that I understood the information that I was just told. "So, this is where we're staying tonight?" I ask, and as I turn to look at him, he nods and begins to walk towards it. I follow, the others close behind.

Once everybody has reached the base of the hill, it was clear to see no set path up to the ruins, so we had to leave Bill the Pony tied up on a nearby tree as we all began to climb up to the summit. Aragorn, Ron, Merry and Frodo began climbing straight away, but Sam was trying to persuade Pip to do so.

I couldn't begin my assent until they had, so I offered to carry Pippin on my back while I climbed. He accepted the offer gladly, and I crouched down so he could jump up onto my back, while Sam began climbing. Pip jumped on quickly and with his arms around my neck (to keep himself on my back) I began climbing, quickly catching up with the others.

Five minutes later, and I was reaching the summit. When my hand found horizontal ground, Pippin casually leapt over my head and accidentally steps on my hand quite hard.

_He's not even wearing shoes: so how the fuck does it hurt more?!_

Regardless, I climb up into a sitting position, while I tried to regain my breath. The sky is a beautiful colour, and I notice that when I lift my head, sitting backwards.

When we were all at the top, we all walked around to another part of the ruins that was more sheltered from the weather, if it decided to take a turn for the worst.

Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin, Ron and I then dropped off our bags, and weapons, and sat down. Strider just looked out into the wilderness as the sun began to set. I got out all of my weapons and cleaned them with the sleeve of my jacket, which I took off to do so.

When I had finished cleaning my sword, knife and half of my arrows, Strider then joined the six of us and pulled out four short swords, handing or rather throwing one to each of the Hobbits saying, "These are for you; keep them close." as he did. Sam looked happier and slightly braver, now he had a weapon of his own at his disposal. People are not going to want to annoy these Hobbits now.

I didn't think that it was worth cleaning all the arrows, so with around ¾ clean now, I packed them back into the quiver, and placed it back onto the floor, before putting my jacket back on.

I finally realize how far I've traveled in the space of a week. From my sitting position, I can see only the last 10-15 minutes of our journey, despite the hill being quite tall. I don't even think that I'm in England anymore, let alone on the school grounds.

I watched the sun sink lower in the sky, not aware of anything, just admiring up in the 'beauty' of the moment, until Ronald punches me in my shoulder. It doesn't really hurt, but startles me; snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What? Sorry, what?" I ask and apologise at the same time, as I look at him.

"Are you okay?" He whispers to me, again concerned.

"Yeah." I say, nodding. Ron's been so concerned about me the last few days. Maybe it's the fact that I'm the only one person he truly knows here. I wanted to say 'understand' then, but nobody will ever understand me.

"I'm going to have a look around", Strider said, rising to his feet. "Stay here. Ron, can you come with me for a moment?" and with that, he leaves, Ron getting up and doing the same.

I looked at the Hobbits, who were discussing something, looking at me every once in a while. "You know." I say, clearly irritated by their actions. They look over and don't look worried; but as if they want me to continue. "I'll go to sleep if you want to bloody talk. All you have to do is ask."

"Please?" Merry and Pippin whine, bringing the sad, puppy dog eyes into the conversation.

I sigh, then nod and lie down, rolling onto my right side, so my back is to them. They continue their conversation from where it left off as I drifted to sleep.

* * *

Several hours later, and I was brought back to my senses by the smell of cooking bacon, and sausages. They're cooking?! That fire'll be seen from miles away

My eyes shoot open wide as the thought sinks in. I sit bolt upright and look at the four. They're huddled around the small fire, which despite its size, gives off a tremendous amount of light.

"What in God's name are you doing?" I ask, my voice raised slightly, still not believing the situation.

"Tomatoes, sausages and some nice crispy bacon!" Merry states and I stand up, running over to them in a panic.

"Put the fire out! NOW!" I practically screech. Holy shit. I'm starting to sound like my mother… Not a good sign.

Frodo got the message pretty much straight after I said, and began stomping on the flames, trying to quell the dangerous heat source.

"Oh that's prefect(!)" Pip remarked. "Ash on my tomatoes!" Really? THAT'S what he's worried about?!  
"Why did you do that?" Sam asked, furious that I'd destroyed the thing that was keeping us warm.  
"Those flames will have been seen from miles around. Who knows what sort of –"

I'm cut off by this ear-piercing, inhuman screech that was coming from all directions

My first thoughts were: "Fuck. That does NOT sound good." The four Hobbits must've known what was making the sound, and going by the looks on their faces, my thoughts were correct. I look over the edge and saw four or five black, hooded figures moving towards the Weathertop ruins, quite fast.  
My heart froze over; they were Dementors.

And I didn't have my wand with me. Damn it! But I DO have a sword, plus a bow and a quiver full of arrows, so I'm not totally screwed; only they're not as good as a patronus...

But we need to be somewhere that is more defendable. But my options are limited.

Thinking quickly now, and the only place I can think would be our best hope is to be right at the top, standing actually on the ruins. But it would be a burden to have to climb up to them now; giving the dementors a chance to catch us.

Pippin began to panic. Tripping over his cloak, he fell onto some hanging ivy on the wall. He grabbed part of it in his fist as he fell to the floor, which pulled off all the vines; covering the youngest hobbit. Behind the thickest part of the ivy vines was a staircase, leading upwards, to what I guessed was the ruins. I looked around.

Frodo just stared at me in surprise. To be perfectly honest, he's not the best fighter, and not any better and devising a plan of escape either.

I sigh in frustration. But nobody hears as I've picked up my quiver and bow, and I'm already sprinting up the stairs, which have been badly weathered over time. Over my quiet footsteps and slight panting, I can hear the large, slapping steps of the hobbits following me up the stairs.

Once at the top, I realize that I might've led us into a trap. I draw my sword, aware of the coming battle. The Hobbits follow suit, and they stand with their backs to one another in the center of the clearing. With my new weapon in hand, I face the stairs which I think is the most likely place the bloody demons will rise up to our position.

Time seems to slow down. The adrenaline that is surging through my veins keeps me awake despite me fatigue and roughly three hours sleep in the last week.

What feels like hours later, I can hear some armor-like clanking coming from another side of the clearing; a side which I am not facing. I slowly turn left; to face four hooded dementors, which are already advancing towards us.

Three of the hobbits are standing infront of me, only Frodo Baggins is out of sight and protected by me.  
The four dementors stop three metres from us, and pull black and rusty swords from their scabbards. This lets me get a good look at their hands. They're not the skeleton-like, decaying ones I saw on the train in September, but covered in metallic gloves, that are part of their little armour.

These are NOT dementors. I'm worse than screwed; I'm totally fucked.

Five more appear from the ruins behind their companions; all with rusty swords drawn. And as 9, they begin to walk forward again, ready to slaughter us like mere animals.

"Back you devils!" Sam shouts, before trying to stab the not-dementors. Each attack was parried expertly and eventually, Sam was violently thrown to the side; crashing into some rubble of old pillars.  
Nice try…

Merry and Pippin tried next. They just stood up strong and refused to move. It worked for a moment, but the hooded creatures just pushed them out of the way, both falling close to the edge; Pippin in danger of falling off.

_My turn_.

I hold my sword with fear; the blade upright and resting against my cheek. I want to run- Oh, I wish to run so badly, run to Strider and Ron or just away from here, but these young hobbits need protecting.  
The nine step forward and one at the far left takes a swing at me, trying to cause a head injury. I parry and take a swing back at it. It hit him/her (Do they have a gender?) in the side, near the waist and it screeched in pain and fury. The creature then rammed the sword in its hands forward, the tip aimed to go into my face.

Reacting on instinct, I ducked under the blade. I then performed a very complicated move that disarmed the creature and I kicked it where its stomach should be. The animal stumbled backwards and fell off the edge of the hill.

_One down; eight to go._

I turn to face the other eight, and I realize that Frodo wasn't here anymore. I saw that the one at the front of the group was advancing towards a piece of the ruins and holding its hand out to grab something. But it pulled away, and with a sound of fury mixed with disgust coming from it, stabbed the thin air around where it was reaching.

The end 3cm them became covered with blood and someone was screaming in pain, all coming from that area.

I wanted to run over, but three more had begun to encircle me. I had to get out. So I ran forward and with the blade of my sword in my right hand (the hilt in my left) I performed a forward roll, my feet just about missing the swords of two of the three.

I stood again, once I was out of immediate danger and saw that I was roughly two feet from the edge.  
I looked back to the scene, was caught off guard. One of the hooded demons had followed me. It brought its sword down from above its head and I parried. But the force of the blow made me sink back to the floor, my hand now dangerously close to the edge.

My hand slips, off the edge and I fall to the ground, unsupported. The impact with the floor dazes me and me sword begins to move from my grip, slipping over the edge.

I panic, and forgetting the creature, I roll onto my front, and managed to hold onto it just after it fell off the side.

"Look out Celeste!" Merry shouts and I take a peak over my shoulder. The creature is getting ready for another strike, and I won't be able to defend myself as well as last time. I try to roll onto my back quickly but I know this will end badly. But I know that I'm getting what I deserve. I stare into the blank face of my enemy and await the blow that ends my life. I don't flinch or scream.

I want to believe that I was thinking about coming to terms with my mortality, and was thinking like a philosopher, but I really wasn't thinking anything apart from "Oh fuck,_ OH_ fuck!"

I hear Pip and Sam scream my name and they're followed by two angry yells that don't belong to their voices.

The creature then suddenly catches fire. It dropped the sword and ran off the Weathertop, but the animal had run off beside where I was lying. Its pure black robes had brushed over my right hand, burning it severely. I almost screamed aloud in pain, but winced instead; I've had worse injuries before, a burn is nothing to draw attention to, even if it is quite painful to burn your hand.

I sit up, place my sword in its scabbard and try my best to stand without causing myself too much agonizing pain.

But I cannot fight with a sword one-handed, so I pull out my knife, just so I am defended, and not vulnerable like I was just.

Ron comes running over the side, clutching a sword like this:

~~ burning-torch1~~

"Are you alright?" he asks as I see in the background all but one of the monsters flee from the ruins, either on fire or scared that they will be.

"Fuck being alright." I say with my temper slightly risen. "How long have you been on here?"

"Bout a minute." He replies shrugging and as I replace my knife, we begin to walk over to the Hobbits and Aragorn (How about I just call him Strider? It's just easier!) who are all standing over something.  
But the two of us stop quickly. The remaining creature has realized that we've stopped fighting and, with its weapon in hand, began advancing towards Strider, with him unaware.

"Aragorn, watch out!" I shout, snatching the torch from Ron's hands and quickly throwing it into the creature's face, before he even has time to realize what I said. He turns and watches as it flees the scene.

Now that he's moved, I can see clearly what the others are looking at. Frodo. He got stabbed and was now writhing in pain, lying on the floor. We ran over and knelt beside him.

Aragorn takes a clear look at the wound, winces and says "This is beyond my skill to heal. He needs Elvish medicine." He picks the poor Frodo and he cries out in pain. I hate seeing people in agony, so this is a real test if will power. Aragorn then walks over to the edge and, with Frodo over his shoulder; he begins scaling down the hillside, to Bill. He's clearly done something like this before.

Sam and Ron were the next to begin the decent, with Pip on Ron's back. Once their heads were out of the line of sight, then Merry and I began to do the same.

Two meters down and my badly burnt hand begins to argue against the climbing. The pain surging through it, is so severe, that I have to resist just jumping the rest of the way down, which would either kill me, or break my legs. I bit my lip, to try and deal with the burn pains, but I feel tears begin to well in my eyes as I keep climbing down.

When I reach the ground and I'm able to take the weight off my injury, the relief nearly makes me sigh aloud, but the throbbing that begins right after holds it back. I blink the unformed tears away and run after the rest, who are- with Bill the pony- sprinting desperately into the woods.

"Hold on Frodo." I whisper as I hear him in pain again; but managing to say one word:

"Gandalf!"


	4. Arwen

We've only been traveling a few hours, but we've had to stop; Frodo's gone from bad to worse, and I don't think that he's going to make it to help.  
Whilst we were quickly evacuating the Weathertop area, Sam explained to me what happened to Frodo; he was the thing that I saw being stabbed by the not-Dementor, just before I performed that forward roll. Maybe he's got an invisibility cloak like Harry's, I might as well as assume that he does.

We rested in a clearing where two stone trolls were positioned, kneeling over slightly, as if they were observing us.

Aragorn gently lay Frodo down on the softest part of the concealed clearing, which is just happened to be under one of the trolls. A blanket was thrown over him, covering him from the neck down. But, nothing seemed to be working.

The other three Hobbits were slightly afraid to approach their friend, but after the Ranger had moved away, and began to look out into the wild; weary of how vulnerable we were right now- with Ron- I knelt down beside Frodo on his right side. I then began moving his hair out of his face with my burnt hand. The pain made it throb but I kept going, eventually moving just to stroke his curly hair.

After about 5 minutes, I was aware that Sam had knelt down on Frodo's left side, and Pip was staring weirdly at my hand. He nudged Merry in the waist, and indicated in the direction of my injury. All of which I caught out of the corner of my eye.

Merry's reaction was quite predictable. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and, after a slightly-silent shocked gasp, he asked, whisper-yelling so that they all could hear "Celeste, what happened to your hand?" Aragorn turns around and walks over, as I stop what I was doing and place both of my hands on my lap.

He stands two feet behind Sam and locks eyes with me, glances quickly at the burns and then back at my face.

"Why didn't you tell me you were injured?" He asks lightly, concern seeking its way into his face.

I feel stupidity grow in the pit of my stomach, and I drop my gaze to my hands, which I begin to mess with, not daring to look up.  
"It doesn't matter." I say quietly, stupidity still rising in me like sickness. "We've got more important things to deal with." I then risk a look up. The worry has left the Ranger's face, and has plastered itself onto Sam's; who is fussing over Frodo.

"Mr Frodo?" He asks his friend, concerned. All the Hobbit does in reply is whine in pain, and flinch as his friend feels his forehead with the back of his hand, taking a mental not of Baggins' temperature. He pulls his hand away after several moments, looking more concerned than he did before. "He's going cold!" He exclaims and I check. Sure enough, Frodo's body temperature was rapidly lowering.

Pippin made a noise that sounded like a choked scream. "Is he going to die?" He asked, looking at me.

I scoff. "How should I know?" I say, laughing slightly, despite of the situation. "I don't even know what the date is!" He smiles and turns to the oldest; Aragorn who answers.

"He's passing into the shadow relm, and pretty soon he'll become a Wraith like them." I see the smile instantly drop from the guy's face. Thanks for lightening the mood(!)

The inhuman screech of the Wraiths rings through the air, as he finishes. It chills me to the bone, and I notice just how close they sound.

"They're close." Merry breathes, and stares into the wilderness behind him.

The sensible of us begins thinking quickly- and it's not me, so don't start thinking that I'm responsible! Aragorn looks straight at the wound on Frodo's shoulder. He seemed to be pondering ideas on what to do, before coming to a conclusion, on what action he wants to take.

"Does anybody know the Athelas plant?" He asks at once, with no warning that he was going to be saying anything. Merry and Pippin shake their heads, while Ron calls 'No.' over his shoulder. I remain silent, thinking. Where have I heard that before?

"The what?" Sam says, and surprised too. For a gardener he really should know this.

"Kingsfoil!" Aragorn replies, renaming the plant. I know what it is! We have some growing outside of Hagrid's hut, which he sometimes feeds to his Hippogriffs.

"Oh yeah!"

"But that's a weed!" I say, discovering my voice at last.

The three of us rise to our feet, and a torch is shoved into my hands, before we all set off in different directions; The Ranger calling back "It may help to slow the poisoning, so HURRY!"

I set off, muttering 'Kingsfoil' to myself over and over again, but sometimes I would end up saying 'Blue flowers; red thorns' even though that's out of Shrek, and I'm looking for a flower that resembles Snowdrops.

And that's when I see it. A 15cm2 patch of the flowers was residing near the roots of a tree; standing tall and proud in the dark. I sigh in relief as I kneel down beside the plant and stuck the end of the torch in the ground, so that my hands were free. I then proceed to cut a small handful of the flowers and, with my knife (Which was used to cut the plant) safely back in my shoe, the Kingsfoil in my right hand, and the torch back in my left, I ran back, taking care to retrace my steps, while not tripping over any tree roots.

"I've found some!" I shout, as I turned and began to run faster, but I received no reply. This inspired me to run yet even faster back to the group, in fear that something dreadful has happened.

But, back at the clearing, I find that isn't the case. Five of them are all waiting for me, with the exception of the one who had the idea to find the Kingsfoil in the first place. Of course he'd go further out than the rest of us.

Breathing heavily, I hunch over, handing the torch to Sam, and with the plants still in my light grasp, my hands on my knees, I try to regain composure. My hearing begins to intensify; a perk of being a Phoenix animagus. I can hear thing that normal human hearing wouldn't pick up, and I can hear roughly half a mile away- and the sound'll still be crystal clear. This time I hear the soft breathing of a fully-grown horse; the breathing of which is different to Bill's. Soft feet hitting the earth is heard next, and the small metallic noise- from when a long knife is drawn.

My breathing to normal, and so does my hearing. God, I wish that I could control it! I stand upright, but I wince once more, in pain. Remember how I got stabbed in the abdomen that day by the Black Lake? (A/N- read chapter one!) Well, I've been trying to ignore the savage pain that's been radiating from it, but now its becoming so bad, I can't honestly ignore it much longer. But now, I need to ignore it, until I can get to help at least. To keep my mind occupied, I go and stand by Ronald, who was now closer to the group than he was before, looking down at the tiny Hobbit.

Minutes fly by, and Aragorn still hasn't returned, sparking Pippin to start pacing the clearing in fear of the worst case scenario. But, soon I hear his steps, running over to us. He burst into the clearing, entering in the same place he exited, but was followed by a woman on horseback.

She had black hair, that was down to her waist, and blue eyes. She wore this type of dress, that wouldn't seem out of place in medieval times, that was a silvery-grey colour that suited her perfectly. She wasn't wearing much jewellery; only a crystal necklace that looked like this:

image

She basically glides off her horse, and as she talks to Frodo in a language that I cannot understand, Ranger-boy turns to me.

"Did you find any?" He asks, referring to the Kingsfoil, looking desperate. I don't say a word, or move my head; I just hold up my hand and open it, so that the white flowers are resting on my palm. He relaxes, sighing out in relief. He grabs the Kingsfoil out of my hands and then quickly, turns and kneels beside Frodo, with the woman now also kneeling.

The two of them have a quick discussion, and the only words I catch are:  
"He's fading."

Then, and quite suddenly, the two stood to their feet. Aragorn picking Frodo up into his arms. They begin to walk towards the horse that she arrived on. The three Hobbits looked scandalised.

"Where are you taking him?" Sam asks, speaking up at last; his voice showing hurt, panic and anger.

But they don't reply. The two just keep walking over, and Frodo is placed on the horse's back. I turn to look at Ron. His curious expression makes me think that this woman is part Veela.

Again, the two adults have a discussion in the unfamiliar foreign language. But it has to be about Frodo, he's going to be worse than dead in a short amount of time; so what else could they be talking about, that is more important right now?

Eventually, the woman jumps onto the horse, behind Frodo and takes the reigns in her hands, while keeping the Hobbit upright on the animal. He looked as if he was getting weaker with each passing second.

"Ride hard; don't look back." Strider said as she began riding away at top speed. As she disappeared into the woods, his face turned into a look of worry. He clearly cared about both of them, though I don't know who he cares for most.

Sam, however looks furious. He turns to the Ranger and roars at him, "What d'you think you're doing?"

The guy does nothing to respond. All he does is pickup some of the possession on the floor, throw the items to their owners and begin walking away at quite a speed with Bill the pony, following the woman's route away.

Okay?! Is that what we're doing now?

Pippin takes off straight away after him, with Merry and Ron looking unsure for a few moments, before running after him, side by side.

Sam and me share a look. His face looks mutinous, and I'm guessing that he doesn't want his friend to come to any more harm.

"Sam. I'm not sure who that was, but I AM sure that she'll be able to get Frodo to help a lot quicker that we could've" I say to him, in an effort to try and persuade him to start walking. No luck, though the expression on his face isn't as severe now. I give up, and walk over to the route out of the clearing. But I stop and turn around at the edge. I look at him. "If you don't follow us now, who knows if you'll be able to see Frodo again."

With that, I leave, following the foot patterns in the mud. Without warning, Sam begins walking beside me. We catch up with the others quickly, and they still traveling at the same, fast pace.

Sam goes to walk beside Pippin in silence, while I quickly walk around them to end up traveling next to Bill, with Aragorn standing the other side of the pony's head. I glance at him. His face was determined and he just looked ahead.

The whole company travelled for two days and nights in little silence, and almost always in silence. My feet killed, by my abdomen was worse. I was now barely containing the pain it was radiating.

"You never said." I commented to Aragorn as we kept walking. He turned his head to look at me. "Before, I mean. That woman, who was she?"

"Her name is Arwen." He replies, and just before he looks away, I see something new- a different emotion- creep into his eyes. I don't realise what it is until later: It was love.

Just before sunset of that same day, we exited the woods, and after we crossed over a shallow river, we approached a huge building.

It looked breath-takingly beautiful: .uk/search?gs_rn=18&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=l3S51J...

"Welcome, Hobbits, Ronald and Celeste." Aragorn said, "To Rivendell; home of Elrond."


	5. Rivendell

The six of us walked towards the giant building in an awed silence; Sam more star-struck than the rest of us. Aragorn just walked normally as we became closer to it. Maybe he grew up here?

We walked up to the front door as the sun dipped below the horizon. Two guards stood positioned there, but once they looked at who was walking towards them, they separated, allowing us to push open the doors and go inside. We strolled in, and the doors were shut behind us. I glanced at the doors before staring at what was waiting for us, standing further into the room.

Someone stood there. A man at a guess, with longer hair than mine- but he had ears that were pointed and slender. He had an air of status and power around him, which radiated through the room, making me no longer feel like that confident girl from Gryffindor.

"Aragorn." the man said walking to meet him. "Long time, no see." He then turned to Sam, Merry and Pip, who were standing infront of Ron and myself. "Frodo is alright." He spoke and I could instantly see Sam relax. "He's sleeping at the moment, but should be awake any time soon. Perhaps you would like to see him?"

The three Hobbits eagerly nodded, and the stranger clapped twice. Seconds later, someone walked forward, away from their chair in the shadows. He wore a large grey hat, and dirty old robes. His beard was long and grey, but taking away most of these factors and more, he looked like someone very familiar. Dumbledore, only it wasn't him.

I stared at my feet to try and keep composure, as Pippin called out "Gandalf!" and ran over to give the guy a hug, Merry and Sam close behind.

I kind of felt awkward standing there, intruding on the reunion. The man was clearly an old friend of theirs, who they possibly haven't seen in a long time. The man (Who was SO much taller than his three counterparts) rose to his feet again, and led the 3 Hobbits out of a different door to the one that they came in, and was shut behind them.

"Crap." I thought. "I'm screwed." I tore my eyes away from my muddy shoes, and attempted to look at the man standing before me. I so desperately wanted to say something, but my voice didn't seem to be working.

"I was told that you were to accompany just four companions, Aragorn Yet you arrived here with six." The spoke in hushed tones, gently moving him from the two of us. Ron and I remained standing where we were, as the two walked to the other side of the room, where they began a conversation in hushed voices. Despite the silence in the room, and their quiet voices, I could hear every word Aragorn and this strange guy was saying n than annoying foreign language; with the only words I could understand were 'Celeste', 'Ronald' and 'Elrond'. So, is this Elrond, then? Ron and I glanced at each other, before I looked back down at the floor.

When they had finished talking, and re-joined us, the sun had properly set, and Ron was falling asleep on his feet. The unknown 'Elrond' turn to us. "So, Aragorn tells me that you are not of this world." He says, and I see Ron panic. Clearly he didn't think I would tell anyone what we were up to, or where we came from.

I clear my throat slightly and lift my head to look the man in the eye. "Yes." I state, trying not to sound big-headed or anything. He nods, and two others walk in. My heart lurches but calms down as soon as I realise that they're not going to kill us. They walked around the room quickly, and quietly lighting the candles situated around the room, before departing. I'm thinking that their arrival was just coincidental.

"Well, anyways. There is a council in two days, and I would be honoured if you two would represent your land". Elrond said, hastily snapping our attention back to him. I smile, but though the offer is intriguing, I need to go find Harry and Hermione. But this land is larger than I thought, so there is a better chance of finding them if I stay. I glance at the floor and think, my smile faded.

"You do realize." Aragorn says, and I look up to him. "That you've got abetter chance of finding your friends if you stay. The council is meeting about a matter, and we think that they've been taken to a place that is involved."

I cross my arms and look at the floor (AGAIN!) as I decide. After several moments, I look up and give Elrond my answer.

* * *

So it's decided. I'm staying in Rivendell for a while, but I don't know what I'm going to do after the council.

After I'd said to Elrond that I'd take part in the meeting, someone showed me to my room, where I jumped onto the bed, dropping my bow & arrows on the way. The room was huge, and gave off a friendly vibe. Facing the ceiling, I kicked off my shoes, removed the sword and its scabbard rom around my waist and lay there.

The room looked like this: tumblr_m690jsjbL81rykvtfo1_500

I was there for ten to fifteen minutes before there was a knock at the door. I said it was open and they walked in. The same woman who had shown me to the room, was there again, holding something in her hands.

I sit up as she quietly shuts the door, and almost glides over to me. "Your friend Ronald mentioned that you'd burnt your hand." She stated, with a voice that a mother would use when her child was injured. I nod, and she quickly sits at the edge of the bed. I sit closer, crossing my legs and I gingerly held out my right hand.

the woman's electric blue eyes glance to the blistered injury on the back of my right hand. She winces quietly and opens the tub that she was carrying in. Inside is a cream, which she lightly applies to the burn. Almost immediately, it stops hurting and begins to fade. Within a minute or two, the burn has gone completely and all that's left is a barley visible red mark. I look up at the woman, and thank her. She nods in reply.

She stands up, and places the cream on the beautiful bedside table. "You may need that again." She said quietly as she began walking towards the door.

"Thank you." I say, shuffling to the edge of the bed. She went to walk out of the now open door but before she could, I stopped her. "Wait!" I called, and she snapped her head around; her blonde straight hair flying in all directions. "You didn't say what your name was."

She smiles; a warm and kind smile that radiates compassion. "My name is Aristrana."is all she says as she leaves, shutting the door silently, and walking away. I'm glad Aristrana told me her name, so that I don't have to keep referring to her as 'she'.

I yawn, and then realise just how long it's been since I've slept properly. Three days chasing some weird animals, then another 3 walking to the Weathertop, and at least another two, until Rivendell. So, at least a week, and around two hours of sleep.

I shuffle under the large duvet and rest my head on the pillows. I roll onto my let side and my hands undo the plat in my hair. I brush my fingers through, letting my hair fall onto my shoulders in scarlet waves. Slowly, I close my eyes, just listening to the wild-life outside, while still brushing my fingers though my hair.

I drift off eventually, thought I felt as if I wouldn't drift off for long.

~~~ Time skip to the morning ~~~

When I woke up the next morning, my first thoughts were 'Ew' and 'Ow'. It dawned on me just how filthy my hair must be, and also it didn't help that the stab wound was stinging like hell.

I roll over onto my right side, but wince slightly. Both in pain, and the fact that sunlight was now in my eyes from the open window. I shield my eyes with my left hand, so that I can see again.

I look over to the bedside table, and see that the tub of cream that healed my hand last night is still there. I sigh on relief, and reach out to get it. The tub is no bigger than the box for iPod earphones, so it is easy to grab. I quickly hold my fingers around the tub and bring it over to myself.

Sitting upright, I unscrewed the lid, and looked inside. There was hardly any cream left; just enough to heal one more injury. I pray to God, in my mind, that it works.

I don't hesitate in getting the cream out of the pot, and getting ready to place it on the wound. I push the duvet down to my knees with the clean hand- as one has cream on the fingers- and then lift up the corner of my shirt to reveal the wound. I quickly glance at it, and nearly scream.

The injury is worse than I imagined. The cut goes deep, and I think that I can see part of my organs. I feel like I'm going to be sick, so I look away to stop myself throwing up. I control my breathing to keep myself calm, and I place the cream on that massive gash.

The pain, for a few seconds, is unbearable, and it takes all my will-power to keep silent. But it fades away eventually, and like the burn last night, the entire injury is gone in just a few minutes. I look down and see that of the deep crevasse of a stab wound, only a faint white jagged line remains. I let go of my shirt, and turn to get out of bed, letting my hands find their way through my hair.

As I stand, I wonder where the nearest bathroom is, so I can take a bath. My eyes survey the hole room, taking in things that I might've missed last night. And that's when I see it; an extra door, unlike the one that I entered through. I walk over to it, grab the beautifully crafted handle, and pushed open the door.

Inside was a bathroom, complete with a bath, towels and pretty much anything I would need right now, apart from shampoo and conditioner. I smile. It's really kind that someone had already prepared bathroom stuff, even though I hadn't said anything. Although it must be obvious; I kind of smell!

Wedging the door open, I walk in and begin running water into the bath. The water came out red hot straight away, and while it ran, filling up the tub, I heard someone knock on the door to my room.

"It's open!" I call and then I hear the door open and close softly. I turn around to see who it was, and who was standing there, but Aristrana, with a bunch of clothes in her arms; a tray of food perched on top. "Morning Aristrana!" I exclaim, walking into the room to meet her. She kindly smiles, walking over to the bedside table, where she placed the bundle of items down.

"Good morning, M'lady." She spoke turning around to see me; her hands in front of her. "Lord Elrond said to bring you some clothes to change into, and some breakfast, seeing as you slept through it." Err, ooops?

"Thank you." I say, and she walks out. Brief visits must be popular here, huh? I remember the bath, and run back into the room, turning the off in time, so no water spilled over the edge. Now that I know it's ready, I head back, to take a look at the clothes that Aristrana sent to me.

I got close to the bedside table, and sat down on my bed. I picked up the tray with food on, and placed it beside me. On it, was a few pieces of toast, fruit and some orange juice. Simple enough. I then look at some of the clothes, and picking up the first one, I can clearly see that they expect me to wear a dress here. The one in my hands in white and blue, with long sleeves. The second, is red and floor length, and must trail behind me as I walk. The designs of the two are similar, apart from the fact that the red one is slightly longer. The third, is grey and is posher than the others, so clearly I will wear this at that at the council. The fourth and fifth dresses are of similar design to the first two, only differences are that one is white, and the other is a deep purple-blue colour. These look both posh, and easy to wear in everyday situations.

Under the dresses was a hooded cloak. It was a deep blue colour, and was quite long; reaching down to just above the floor. Feeling the fabric between my fingers, I could tell that it was designed to be warm, keeping out snow and wind, although it wasn't waterproof and was more of a cotton-style fabric. The rest of the pile was shirts and trousers.

After placing all of the clothes back onto the table again, I picked up the blue and white dress, which I decided I was going to wear, I headed for the bathroom, kicking the door closed as I passed.

I placed the dress on the hook on the back of the door and got undressed, slipping into the hot bath. After quickly washing the layer of dirt and grime off my skin, and (with just the bath water) I managed to get quite a bit of disgusting crap out of my hair.

Climbing out, I reached for the towel and began drying off. My hair wouldn't dry entirely, so, after I had gotten dressed into the next outfit, I left my hair as it was, with it just flowing around my shoulders.

I picked up the spare clothes off the floor, and headed back into the bedroom. A quick look around the room, and I couldn't see a place t leave the dirty laundry, so I just dumped it on the floor, beside the end of the bed.

I jumped around the side of the bed, and grabbed my boots; putting them on in a flash and reaching for the toast, which I began eating hastily. Within seconds, I was standing up and heading out the door, ready to explore Rivendell and discover what secrets it has in store.

I open the door, and head left, trying to remember my steps from the previous night.

* * *

Easily, I managed to find my way to the front room, where Elrond and the other guy who so closely resembles Dumbledore were waiting last night.

My heels clicked on the marble floor quite loudly as I walked. nobody was in there, as I strode in. So, while I finally finished the toast, I looked around. Nothing in there really stood out to me, only an open book that was on a coffee table in front of the fire place.

Desperate to know what it said, I strode over there, and when I was close enough, I was able to read upside down what the chapter title was: "The Balrog."

Balrog? Never heard of something like that. What is it, some sort of pet? Anyway, the name sounds interesting, so I picked up the book, and while using the fingers on my one hand to keep the page, I flipped the book to the front cover and looked at the title.

"The species and Monsters of Middle-Earth" I mouthed as I read the words. So, I'm in a country called Middle-Earth? If it's anything like Skyrim, then I can't wait to explore it, and get Harry and Herman back!

But, I need to know what I'm going to be against, so I sit down and read the chapter list. the names 'Dwarves', 'Hobbits', 'Orcs' etc, stand out to me. The names are colour co-ordinated. One set is green, the other was a deep blue. The word 'Hobbits' was the green colour, so I'm going to guess that any species in Green is on our side.

But, after reading the list once or twice more, someone walks in. I glance over my shoulder to see Ron heading towards me , wearing something fancy; nothing like what he normally wears.

He scans the room and seeing me, he grins and walks over.

"Mornin' Weasley!" I call, standing up, with the book still in my hands. The ginger notices it.

"So THAT'S where my book went!" He exclaims. I gasp in amazement, and my free hand flies up to my chest, and it clutches myheart.

"Ronald Weasley, ACTUALLY reading a book?" I remark, my mouth falling open, much to his amusement. He chuckles, and grabs the book back; with it falling open on the same page it was left out at.

We stand there for a moment, caught in an awkward silence for a moment, before I broke it. I place my hands on my hips and look around the room once, before looking Ron in the eye and saying "So, Rivendell, huh?"

It's silent for a moment, before we just lose it, and burst out laughing. We stand there for about a minute, before we stop and he just sighs. "What are we doing here?" He asks, and I can feel the entire atmosphere of the room dramatically change.

I cross my arms, and my gaze finds its way to the window. I walk over, and just stare out of it, replying "I don't know Ron, I honestly don't know." I sigh and look down to the main gates, where a group of people were riding in on horses. A blond haired guy, who just glided off his horse noticed me, and smiled at me. I nodded and smiled back. Afterwards, I turned back to Ron, where he was still standing in the same place.

"Shall we do something, then? Or do you want to stand here and catch dust?" I ask, and without any answer, Ron just heads for the door ( not the one leading to the courtyard.) and began running away at a break-neck speed. I follow, just not running; more like walking in a way that just screams "Come at me bro!"

Using my hearing, to try and train it, I follow the sound of Ron's footsteps. Eventually, they lead me to through the outside courtyard, and into the woods. Where, I finally find him again, holding my quiver and bow at the archery range. At a nearby tree stood a mound of books.

"Sooooooo," Ron began, throwing my weapons at me, which I caught easily. "Wanna teach me how to shoot?"

Why not? Easy enough and passes the time!


	6. Training and Information

For the next four hours, I was there teaching Ron how to fire a bow.

To be honest; he is CRAP! It took an hour of the time (In total) with him just breaking the string over, and over again. He clearly had to fix it (With the spell 'Reparo'). We hadn't even gotten an arrow anywhere near the targets, and i honestly, Just. Gave. Up.

After about twenty minutes, after I showed him how to fire it properly, I just sat with my back to the tree, and started reading my way through the pile of books, humming any song that came to mind as I read. Black Veil Brides, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance songs came the most often. Two songs that I remember humming were Picture perfect by Escape the Fate and Underdog by You Me At Six.

Though the books were huge, and with hundreds of pages inside, it was mainly diagrams and photographs that related to the information on the neighboring pages inside.

In the time, I had easily memorized the map of Middle-Earth (Including all the small details of each country: Mordor, Rohan, Gondor and The Shire. I read about the Grey Havens, and many of the myths, legends and prophecies that certain races believe in.

Strangely though, two legends kept appearing; intertwining with each other. One was about the Return of the King, and the other was about something or someone called 'The Lionheart'. Both stories had only the title written in English, when I looked at them in detail. Neither were illustrated either, so I had no idea what they were about.

Around the 4 hour mark, Ron managed to launch an arrow at the target. It fell short, but he still managed to actually fire an arrow away from where he was standing.

I clapped respectively, and with his new-found confidence, the next arrow Ron fired, landed right in the center of the bulls-eye. He laughed in surprise, and turned to look at me, smiling.

"Impressive." I say, rising to my feet. I waltz over and take the bow from his arms, and one of my gold-coloured arrows from the quiver resting on his shoulder. "Buuuut, I think I can beat that!" I say matter-of-factly.

Ron scoffs as I head to the line of fire, placing the arrow on the string, and aiming. "Yeah, right (!) How are you going to beat THAT?" He laughs. I roll my eyes, and let the arrow fly. The result was so fairy tale.

The second arrow landed in exactly the same place as the first, and split it right down the shaft.

I lowered the bow to waist height, and turned around smirking. Ron was sitting where I had been, with his arms crossed. He was scowling; clearing hating the fact that he'd been beaten. My free hand is now resting on my hip.

"Far you have to go, young Jedi." I say, trying to impersonate Yoda. Didn't work all that well, but it did make Ron laugh, as he rose to his feet.

I'm starving, so we go to grab a bit of food, when we run into the Hobbits, Frodo with them.

He smiles wide when he sees us, and I kneel down to give him a hug. "you're alright then?" I say, as he pulls away and I stand up again. Frodo smiles and nods.

"I've got a scar on my shoulder, now. But I feel fine." He says, and I hear Merry and Pippin whisper something to each other. Something that involves pranking the food and blaming it on someone else. Sounds interesting, and then my names creeps into it.

" Merry. Pip." I say, and they look at me. I indicate for them to come closer to me, and I kneel down again, and whisper so that only the two of them can hear me. "I like the pranking idea, but if you involve me, in ANY single way,, you won't know what hit you." I say, and they run into the dining hall, at top speed.

Sam looks at me, then the door, and back to me. "What did you say?" He asks, and I just shrug.

"All I did." I begin. "Was say to the two, who were planning a prank by the way, that they better not involve me in any sort of way. so naturally, they are either changing the target of the prank, or getting rid of any evidence that would place me in the firing line."

Frodo and Ron just laugh, while I quietly giggle. Sam doesn't look too impressed, and walks inside. Within seconds, he is running back out, covered in some weird substance, chasing Merry and pippin, making the 3 of us laugh even harder.

After five or six minutes of laughing at Sam (who was still chasing them around the place.) I head into the dining hall, taking care not to step in the same places hat Sam'wise' Gamgee had. It wasn't hard, as he hadn't walked far into the room.

I quickly ate lunch, and then after dropping my bow & arrows off in my room, I quickly changed into a shirt and jeans, ideally wanting to practice sword fighting or something else.

I picked up my sword from beside my bed, and went to find someone to train with.

I found myself walking around aimlessly for a while, before I found Ron, Merry, Frodo and Pippin again, in the middle of one of the large fields.

They all had their backs to me, so on impulse, I ran silently at Ron, and jumped on his back. I sat piggy-back for around two seconds before I was dropped to the grassy floor, and the hobbits just piled on top of me, with Ron just lying there, staring at the clear blue sky.

"so clearly surprise _isn't _my thing! I say, laughing. The others soon join in, and eventually move off me, so that the five of us are lying there, looking at the sky, talking about, well, anything really. We all stay there for a bit, before I smell dinner.

"Hey guys. If we don't move now, we'll miss dinner!" I say simply, and it made Merry and pip practically disapperate, they moved that quickly! Ron, too. These idiots could be related, they're that alike.

I sit upright, and just sigh. It's not like all the food is going to run out! But, all the same, I didn't eat much at breakfast or lunch, so I'm pretty hungry.

"come on, Celeste." Frodo says, rising to his feet. "They won't save any food that's not held down!"

I smile, knowing that it's most likely true, and I stand as well.

We head to find something to eat, and discover that the 3 had actually left us something to eat. So I ate some of what was there (A nice roast dinner, or something along those lines.) and I just hopped back into my room.

I cringed as I walked in, I had no idea how messy I had left the place. I crept in, and shut the door, making sure that nobody saw the mess. Then I got to work. I hung up all the clothes in the wardrobe (putting the shirts in a drawer underneath) and placed all the weapons on the small seat in the corner of the room.

That took around an hour or two, and when I'd finished, I just kicked off my boots, climbed under the covers, lay back and just messed with my bracelet.

I was given the thing on the day I received my Hogwarts letter, nearly three years ago now. apparently, it had been a good luck charm, handed down through the Black family for generations. My dad never had it, as it was given to me by my Aunt Andromea saying that only girls have had the bracelet, and they've had good lives. Well, I think she said that anyway. The lives of the people who had it were good and happy in their opinions at least.

I turn it around and around my wrist in deep thought. Just thinking about what Ron had said earlier.

_Flashback:_

"What are we doing here?" He asks.

- End Flashback - 

What are we doing here? It was a tiny, _impossible _accident that brought me here, and in the end, what can _I _do? I forgot the one thing that could get me home. But do I want to go home? Back to somewhere, that yes, I know like the back of my hand, but it is contaminated with the news of my dad; he ruined everything for me, and everyone close to me, all for his own personal betrayal.

I fall asleep thinking about if my friends are okay, or if those creature (that I found out were called 'Orcs') have tortured them, or worse.

Let's just say that my dreams were not pretty. The vivid images that my mind created kept me awake throughout the night.

When the sun rose the next morning, I felt shattered. I felt more awake running for three days straight that I did that morning.

I pulled myself out of bed, put my boots back on, and headed straight out to the archery range, grabbing what I needed off the chair on my way out. The place was empty when I arrived, so I decided to set myself a challenge, which made myself feel wide awake and 100% alert.

With my quiver slung over my shoulder, I walked over to the first target. I loaded my bow (Standing around 25 meters away), held it out to aim, and I released; the arrow sinking deep into the dead center of the target. Then, to perform the challenge, I began walking along to the next target, loading my bow. Then, while not stopping, I fired onto the target and continue onto the next, and the next, and the next.

I made my way down the 20 or so targets in this fashion, never missing the central golden ring. But, as I walked to the final target, I stopped and aimed quickly. Just as I was about to release my grip to send the arrow flying, someone fired their from the trees behind me, and it tore through the center of the target, his/her arrow half embedded. I turned my head to find that same Blonde-haired man (who I know actually think is an Elf; Check the ears!) who I saw arriving yesterday. He was wearing similar clothes to yesterday, and I noticed tiny details of the outfit. But I kept glancing at the golden ring embedded with emeralds in the shape of a ring of leaves on his finger.

"You have quite the skill with a bow." He says, walking towards me.

"It's not that hard to hit stationary targets." I say and without taking my eyes off him, I fire the bow at the target. I hear the pleasing sound of impact and I turn around to see, that just like yesterday, I had split the arrow.

I lower the bow and turn around again. He's still standing there, but with an impressed look on his face.

"Not many of even the most skilled Elves can fire a bow without looking, m'lady." He says smiling, and he bows before departing.

Right. So, do Elves here compliment women, and just leave? Man, people here are just downright confusing.

My stomach rumbles, and I instantly regret skipping breakfast again. But, I can't leave the place looking like a hit-and-run murder, so I spend a few minutes removing the arrows from the targets, and placing them back in my quiver.

The Elf's broken arrow, I left by the base of nearby tree where it blended in with the thin, twiggy branches.

The day went by quite smoothly. Sword fighting with Ranger-boy, bit more archery, sun bathing with the hobbits and Ron, you know; the usual!

That night, after dinner I realized what was happened tomorrow; the Council. Damn! Time flew by so quickly!

I opened the door to my room, and just flopped onto the bed, facing upwards. I sigh, the meeting is bound to be all boring and dare I think- Serious!

I kick off the boots, and willingly myself, I drag myself to the bathroom to wash. A quick bath later, and I jumped into the bed, when another thought hit me; there were so many chances in the past week when I could've used my animagus powers; and I mentally slap myself. I bet, if I'd transformed into a phoenix, some stuff would've been so much easier.

My mind dawdles on those thoughts for a while, and eventually, I yawn. I sit up and look out the window to see the sun sink below the horizon.

I turn over, and crawl under the covers and I lie on my right side, wet scarlet hair just ending up lying in all directions. Like the first night, I messed with my hair as I dozed off.

I woke up early (again...) and just rolled out of bed, I was that tired at first. I landed on my hands and knees on the floor with a '**thump**'.

Peeling my eyes open, I stand up, and headed to the bathroom where I washed my face in the clean water, that I found in a wash-bowl on the table side. The water was warm, and perfumed with flowers that, when I smelt it, woke me up instantly.

A few minutes were spent cleaning my face, and I walked back into the bedroom drying my face on a towel, which I then left with the rest of the laundry at the end of the bed.

somehow, I found myself searching in the wardrobe for that grey dress next. I found it, lurking in the depths and I quickly changed into it, before beginning a search for some more sensible shoes, so that I don't have to wear those boots (Which honestly just don't go with dresses!)

I searched pretty much every compartment in the room. Twice, at least.

Just as I was debating going bare foot, someone knocked on the door. I walked over and pulled it open.

Ranger-boy (I love this nickname, don't you!) stood there, looking fancy. He's going too, isn't he?

"Someone called Aristana said you'd need these." He commented, and held up a pair of ballet pumps. I smirked.

"Just in time." I say, taking them off him, dropping the shoes to the floor and stepping into them. I look back at him. "how long until that council, then?" I ask.

"Twenty minutes, but everyone really needs to be there in fifteen." He replies.

"Right, well, I have no idea where I'm supposed to go, so lead the way!" I say and he smiles, setting off, with me walking beside him.

The walk to the balcony where the council was being held took around five minutes or so. To fill the boring silence in that time, Ranger-boy decided to start a conversation. The topics included how I learnt archer and more random stuff about Hogwarts. I told him loads that day (Or rather, night) on the marshes, and since then, he's been desperate to find out more.

Anyway, despite being quite early, I think that most people were already there; with only Ron, Frodo and the one who looks like Dumbledore (Who I know is called Gandalf) after us.

And, before I knew it, an Elf had stood up and said "The council is about to begin. If you'd be so kind as to take your seats." And we did. Ranger-boy was on my right, Ron to my left, and nobody to his. The chairs were positioned in a horse-shoe style. Elrond walked in, and the meeting officially began.


	7. The Council of Elrond

Elrond looked around the gathering once before speaking, "Strangers from distant lands, friends of Old. You've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction; none can escape it." He quickly looked to the Elves and the Dwarves, who were sitting quite close together. "You will unite or you WILL fall. Each race is bound to this fate; this one doom." Some people started looking uneasy, while I felt pretty uncomfortable. Elrond turned to Frodo (who was sitting next to Gandalf, at the other end of the horse-shoe), and spoke to him. "Bring forth the ring, Frodo."

Frodo did as he was told. He rose to his feet almost instantly, before gingerly walking over to the table in the center of the clearing, and placing on it, what Elrond said was 'THE Ring'. As soon as I saw it, I remembered seeing it before. The simple gold shape; with its similarities to a wedding ring. I'd seen Frodo carrying it before Weathertop. That _thing_ has the power to destroy the entire world? That is the Ring which was cut from Sauron's hand?

Many people started muttering, and I shared a quick glance at Ron, who must have been feeling quite confused (seeing as he didn't read anything on the matter!) before someone sitting a few chairs away (Who I'm sure is of the race of Man) stared at the ring and said "So it is true." He rose to his feet, making everyone else's attention turn to him.

He began muttering to himself (I think...) saying 'Isildur's bane is found' while walking closer to the table. Eventually, he stopped and began reaching out, as if to grab the Ring, but before he could, Elrond stepped in.

"Boromir!" He shouted, grabbing the guy's attention. At the same moment he looked towards Elrond, Gandalf started speaking ominously in a foreign language. But this one was different from any language I've heard before. When Gandalf began talking, the sky turned dark, and the light breeze turned cold.

I don't know why, but the words made me completely petrified. A quick glance at everyone else present showed Elrond face-palming, several people looking upwards to the sky, some has closed their eyes, and the one who almost touched the Ring hastily sat down again.

Gandalf spoke for around fifteen seconds, but it felt like a lifetime, before he had finished, and the clouds dispersed immediately. It was silent for a moment as a refreshing breeze returned to the clearing, and the tension in the air diminished slightly.

Elrond spoke next, and he didn't sound pleased, "Never before has any tongue uttered those words here in Imaldris." He said to Gandalf, looking pretty annoyed.

"I do not beg for your pardon, Master Elrond." Gandalf began, resting forward on hi staff. "For soon the Black speech of Mordor may be heard in every corner of the West. The Ring is altogether evil." That clearly is an indicator to us, to GET A MOVE ON AND DESTROY THAT SODDING RING!

"It is a gift." someone said, and once again, Boromir had diverted our attention to him (and his selfish views). rising to his feet, he continued, "A gift to the foes of Mordor." He began walking around, and with that I dropped my gaze to my hands, rolling my eyes, as I had guessed what he was going to begin talking about.

And he did exactly what I thought. "Why not use this Ring to our advantage?" He asked the rest of us, and I could clearly tell people were beginning to get annoyed with him. I glanced up, and saw that he was near the Elves, and was looking around as he continued talking, while turning around to see other people sitting before him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ranger-boy sit up straighter, with a facial expression that just said, "Are you kidding me?"

"My father, the steward of Gondor, has kept the forces of Mordor at bay, by the blood of our people." Okay, now I really want to slap him, and tell him to 'wake up and smell the roses'! Has he not listened to anything that's been said? "Why not use this Ring?" He asks, and that is a clear 'No' to my mental rhetorical question.

"you cannot wield it." Ranger-boy says angrily. "None of us can." I turn to look at him, and so does everyone else. "The one Ring answers to Sauron alone; it has no other master!" He finishes, and the annoying one turns around to look at him.

"And what, would a _ranger _know of such things?" He asks, laughing slightly at his own stupid humor. Ranger-boy doesn't reply, but just sits up straighter.

As he sits straighter, an Elf, with blonde hair and wearing something that resembled a floor-length silvery poncho, jumped to his feet, and snapped at Mr Annoying. "Do you not know who this is?" He asks, and continues before he has a chance to answer. "He is no mere Ranger; he is Aragorn, son on Arathorn." I feel everyone's gaze snap to the guy sitting next to me, and then back to the Elf. "You owe him your allegance."

I spot the Elf from the archery range yesterday, sitting next to the empty chair, looking embarrassed. And that's when I notice that he, and the Elf standing up, look similar. They're brothers and his reaction confirms that hypothesis.

"Aragorn?" Annoying one comments and he begins walking over the where the guy was sitting. "This is Isildur's heir?" He asked, both in awe, shock and annoyance (No surprise!). It takes all of my will power not to scream at him, or hug the guy next to me. Don't ask me why though, my brain is just weird that way.

Ranger-boy (though I can't really call him that anymore...) sat up even straighter and he kind of acted regal, and even though you should feel timid in the presence of someone of that status, I didn't. To me, he was still that mysterious stranger who led 4 Hobbits (more or less,) and 2 lost kids to Rivendell.

"And the heir to the throne of Gondor." The Elf said again. See; that's what I was talking about. He should be the fricking KING, and he doesn't act like it. Annoying one looked to the Elf, when two voices; one to my direct right, and one to the Elf's, said something like "Havo dath, Legolas." I can only assume that meant 'sit down' as he sat down afterwards; and I could also guess that his name was Legolas, again, from what they said.

I felt tension in the air grow again, as annoying Boromir went to sit down, saying, "Gondor has no king." He sat down and, while looking at Aragorn, spat out, "Gondor needs no king."

Okay; that just crossed a line. A big, line that has barbed wire, electric fences and signs that say 'DO NOT CROSS!' in bold red letters. But what would you expect, from the son of the Gondorian Steward? The next one in line to take care of the throne, with power and _some_ status. (Note how I said 'some'.)

It was all silent for a moment, before Gandalf tried to steer the conversation back to the original topic. "Aragorn is right; we cannot use it."

"You have only one choice." Elrond confirmed, his voice sounding serious, instead of angry now. "The Ring must be destroyed." A weight was taken off my chest, but was soon back, as I realized that one of the people sitting here would have to do it. I don't know why I got the gut feeling; I just did.

I kept thinking how it would be one of the Dwarves, as they've got the skills and the heavy weaponry, when the ginger dwarf said impatiently, "Then, what are we waiting for?" He stood up, grabbing the axe that was situated beside his chair. Hen ran forward, and attempted to cut the Ring in half, but it didn't work. The axe shattered, and the pieces flew outward. One, just skimmed past my right ear, and embedded itself into the wall behind where I was sitting. Meanwhile, the Dwarf was thrown onto his back, and was being helped to his feet.

I glanced over to Frodo, who was sitting there, clutching his head; sitting out breath, staring at the Ring.

"How the hell...?" Ron whispers from beside me, and I look at him. Then, following his gaze, I see that the Ring, is perfectly intact; with the only damage done to the table, and the now destroyed axe.

"It cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Gloin, by any craft we here possess." Elrond said as the now-named Gimli regained his seat; his cheeks going as red as my hair. "The Ring was forged in the fires of Mount Doom." Makes sense, seeing as **nothing** else in this world does. "And only there can it be unmade."

Ah. Right. That explains my gut feeling. You want somebody to go Mordor; the center of evil in Middle-Earth, and throw the Ring into what is basically a 24/7 erupting volcano? Are, you MAD?! Nobody would do that!

"One does not simply WALK into Mordor." Boromir whined, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There is evil there that does not sleep; the Great Eye is _ever _watchful. Not with ten thousand men could you do this; it is folly." Super (!) No way to get to the volcano without being seen. Again, ARE YOU MAD, ELROND?!

But, it has to be done...

Legolas rose to his feet again, and snapped at Boromir. "have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said?" He looks around and continues, "The Ring _must _be destroyed!"

The Dwarf rose to his feet dramatically, and turned to the Elf; a face like thunder. Oh crap, he's not going to start an argument is he? "And I suppose **you'd **think you're the one to do it." He snaps.

And who else stands next, but Boromir. "And if we fail, what then?" He almost roars. "What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?"

Dwarfy 'speaks' again. "I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands, of an Elf!" He comments. That really wasn't your best move.

The Elves and Dwarves all rise to their feet; the blonde one holding his arms wide to stop his friends from getting physically violent.

A massive argument begins, and eventually, the Men (apart from the two sitting either side of me) all join in.

The place turns into the complete Bedlam. Arguments were my strong point, but seeing as how it's over stupid tiffs, we're going to get nowhere close to destroying the Ring.

At one point, Ron gets to his feet, but I grab his arm, and force him to sit down again. He looks at me in repent, but doesn't try to stand again.

I gaze around the place, and see Gandalf rise to his feet. He yelled at the top of his voice, and was heard, even above everything else, roaring his head off at one person in particular.

I listened to what specific people were saying. Let's just say, sooner or later, it was going to end up getting racist between the Elves and Dwarves.

But, what happened next, nobody could predict would happen.

When, after a minute or two of watching them all argue, I was seriously debating walking out. It was embarrassing! Grown adults, getting along worse with each other, than me and sodding Draco Malfoy!

I stared at my feet, and, while using my improved hearing (as another attempt to train it, and to also pass the time being wasted by stupid people) I overheard something that made me look up. It was quiet, but I still heard Frodo stand up and shout with all his might "I will take it!".

Nobody (apart from me) heard what he had said, as he shouted it again, right at the point when the argument reached its crescendo, and got to its loudest point.

I honestly felt sorry for the guy. It must take a lot of courage to stand up, infront of a group of grown adults, and say something like that, which could mean carrying what is most likely the most dangerous weapon ever, and throw it into the one place closest to where we don't want it to go.

Finally, I had enough, I turned to Ron and told him to cover his ears, when I nodded. He told Aragorn as I stood up, indicating to Frodo for him to do the same.

I stepped forward once, and while keeping eye contact with the Hobbit, I nodded. He covered his ears with his hands, and I'm positive the other two have done the same. Then, I put my finger too my lips and wolf whistled very loudly. The frequency was quite high, and I saw two or three people cover their ears in pain.

They all stopped arguing immediately, and I held the whistle on for around three or four seconds before I stopped. Everyone stared at me, and as I began speaking, the people who had covered their ears, lowered their hands.

I walked forward a few more steps, and began. "Now that you're all done acting like six year olds." I commented "I think Frodo wants to say something. At least give him the respect he deserves, and listen to what he has to say." Some of those in front of me looked really embarrassed.

I turned to Frodo and continued speaking in a kinder tone of voice. "Go on, Frodo." I say, gesturing with my hand. "What were you saying?"

He doesn't respond to me directly, and I don't expect him to. He turns to the entire council and says, "I will take it. I will take the Ring to Mordor." I see several people stand there in shock, and Gandalf, who was one of the few people, who hadn't turned to look at Frodo in the first place, slowly closed his eyes, sighed silently, and while turning to face the Hobbit, he opened them again.

But Frodo continued. "Though, I do not know the way..." He said, in a timid voice, and I could tell he was slightly embarrassed to admit that.

Nobody did anything for a split second, before Gandalf moved to stand behind Frodo stating, "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins. As long as it is yours to bear." He patted Frodo on the shoulder, as someone stood up and walked forward.

Aragorn. He knelt infront of the Hobbit, and said "If by my life or death, I can protect you; I will. You have my sword." He rises and stands beside Gandalf, who nods slightly to Elrond. I don't think anyone notices the discreet action, as two more people are already volunteering.

"You have my bow.! Says the blonde Elf Legolas proudly, as he walks forward and stands the other side of Gandalf. He had been barely standing there two seconds, when that ginger dwarf added, "And _my _axe!"

The facial expression Legolas had was hilarious, and it was really difficult to stop myself from laughing. I managed it, but barely.

But, what I was actually doing, was having a quick debate inside, on whether or not I should help as well. The only conclusion I came to was, that if the Ring was destroyed quicker, then I might be able to save Harry and Hermione sooner than if I wait here. So, my choice; volunteer.

I took a deep breath, and began talking calmly, though collectively. "Frodo." I began, getting everyone's attention. "I swear, that I will protect you in this task - or die at your side." I smiled, and the Hobbit nodded, and I walked over to stand beside Aragorn. Ron waltzes over too, but I don't catch what he says before he goes and stands beside Dwarfy.

Okay, so that's seven; anyone else? I gave Ron a look that said 'nicely done!', but my attention snapped to the rest of the group, where someone else was walking towards us. I'll give you 3 guesses who it was.

_Boromir. _He walked forward, staring at Frodo with his head held high. "If you want us to see it through, then Gondor will consider it done." He stated proudly, and walked over to the rest of us, just as I heard the bushes rustle behind us, and a familiar voice cried out.

"Hey!" Sam shouted, gaining everyone's attention, as he jumped over the small fence and slipped between Gandalf and Aragorn hastily, to stand beside Frodo, with his arms crossed. "Mr Frodo's not going anywhere without me." He acknowledged, before averting his gaze to the floor in embarrassment.

Everyone apart from Sam looked to Elrond, for his response. Surprisingly, he had an amused look on his face. "No, indeed it is hardly possible to separate you." Elrond began, his tone quickly changing from one of humor, to one a parent or teacher would us to tell off a child. "Even when he is summoned to a secret council, and you are _not_."

Jeez, don't be so harsh on the guy; he's only curious, don't be such a buzz-kill!

Before anything else is spoken, I hear Merry shout "Oh! We're coming too!" as he and Pippin jumped out from behind a pair of pillars, near to where I was sitting. The two ran forwards, at the same time Merry continued speaking, "You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!"

One look at Elrond's face now was just a ticket for anyone to start laughing. The facial expression he wore had 'Where did all these Hobbits come from?' written all over it.

"Anyway!" Pip remarked, and I looked to see the two of them standing beside the rest of us. "You need people of intelligence on this mission ... quest ... _thing_." I couldn't help but smile at this. Thinks he's smarter than the rest of us, huh? Yeah right (!) He's prank smart, but that isn't really going to help him from now on ...

"Well that rules you out, Pip." I hear Ron and Merry say. Pippin's smile faded, and he hit Merry on the arm, and went to it Ron, but he moved out of the way, just barely.

"Hmmm... Eleven companions." Elrond announced, and we all stood slightly straighter and prouder. "So be it. You shall be the 'Fellowship of the Ring."

My smile didn't fade from my face, but it wasn't entirely genuine. The 11 of us have just volunteered for a task, that will either end in Sauron's destruction... or all freedom of good, forever. Wow, my mind is a very cheerful place(!)

Pippin spoke next. "Brilliant!" He exclaimed before looking puzzled. "Where are we going?" He asks, and you can just sense that everyone in the room wants to moan in frustration.

Only from Peregrin Took, would you hear a remark being spoken aloud in a meeting about the fate in the world.

* * *

**A/N So that's it! The Fellowship has been formed, and Celeste is on her way!**

**I have to thank my buddy Katharine, who was the Merlin-themed genius behind what Cel said, as she volunteered for the Fellowship.**

**Ellian (The blonde Elf is constantly being mentioned) was created by my buddy Jack, or as you know him Silverhand9028; check out his work!**


	8. Preparations

Celeste's POV:

After Elrond dismissed the council, notifying everyone that the Fellowship would leave Rivendell in two days, we all went to do our own thing. I think Ron went with the Hobbits to do something or other, some went to prepare their stuff, and I just headed to my room.

I opened the door, kicked off the shoes before placing them away, and after closing the door, changing into a simple shirt and leggings, going for comfort rather than elegance. I slipped a pair of boots on, braided my hair in its usual fishtail braid fashion, before I noticed something different about the room. One look told me everything I needed to know; all my dirty laundry from the last few days had been washed, and it now all sat folded up in a pile, in the same place I left it all earlier.

On closer inspection, I noticed that there was some new pieces of clothing there; 2 pairs of boots, a pair of gloves, some gauntlets and corset, which I'm guessing is some armour. I spend the next few minutes putting everything away, while mentally deciding what I'm going to take. It'd be stupid to take more than one dress, so without a moment of second choice, I decided on the purple-blue one.

That dress looked good if you wore boots with it, so I really didn't need to pack any other shoes, apart from the ones that I will wear. The only other stuff I need to take is the armour, and a cloak; my choices of which are limited.

With that all decided, I had two days full of time to kill. My first thought was to head to the library again, but I laughed, that was such a Hermione thing to do. But the instant I thought that, I felt a bit depressed. If I'm on my way to destroy the Ring, there HAS to be a point where I end up finding Hermione and Harry again.

_I need something to distract my mind _I thought as I began pacing slightly. A quick look at my weapons gave me an idea; training. Despite the fact that I think that I really don't need to train, I should anyway. There are always more experienced people around that I could get tips off.

I picked up the bow and arrows, and headed out the door, retracing the now familiar route to the archery range.

The trip down there took less time than usual, and as normal, the place was completely empty when I arrived. I walked over to the firing line, took my bow in my right and, loaded it, and began firing at the target, thinking. I seem to be thinking a lot, which is strange. I thought about how different I've been acting since I arrived here. I seem almost grown up, and now I consider it, responsible.

But, I am responsible, responsible for bringing people to a different place , and it is possible that nobody back home knows about this.

I fired arrows with such anger , that they eventually shooting straight through the target, and into the tree ten feet behind it. Eventually, which must have been around an hour later, the target looked worse for wear, and the tree didn't look that good either. I lowered my bow, before collecting the arrows that littered the site. It took five minutes, to remove the arrows embedded deep in the tree, and I was just walking back to the target, when I heard light footsteps arriving.

I pulled the first arrow out of the target, and I hear the footsteps stop nearby. I shoved the arrow into the quiver on my shoulder, and looked over to see who was there. Aragorn, stood there, arms folded on his chest, looking impressed. "I had no idea that you could shoot." He admitted.

I shrugged as I pulled the last 2 arrows free from the target. "What? Did you think that I carried a bow and quiver full of arrows around with me for the sake of it?" I ask, laughing.

He shook his head, smiling, and I walked over to meet him. He turned around as I came closer, and we began walking away, talking. "That is not what I meant." He added. I looked at him, as the two of us walked out onto a lush field, with tall grasses and was located on the edge of a dense forest. And sitting in the centre of the field, chatting away in the sunshine, was a certain group of eight people. "What I actually meant was I never knew that you could shoot so well."

I laughed, and he looked at me in surprise. "One of the Elves said something similar to me the other day."

"Oh." He said. "Which one?"

"I think it was the one that was sitting next to Legolas at the council." I admitted.

"Really?" He asked and I nodded. "That's Legolas' older brother, Ellian son of Thranduil. He's the heir to the throne of Mirkwood."

"Seriously?!" I ask, and he chuckles.

"Do I look like a person that lies about things like that?" He asks in a half serious tone of voice.

"I'm tempted to say yes... _buuut, _I'm going to have to go with 'no', seeing as I actually want to be _alive _when we leave in two days." I say joking. At this point, we had arrived at where all the others were sitting in a circle, chatting away. From a quick look, it was obvious that Gandalf was the one missing.

I sat down next to Ron and Pip, and everyone continued talking about random topics, while including me and Ranger-boy, and after an hour or two, Gandalf who arrived with a bunch of food in a basket, and 11 of us ate a large picnic lunch. We had a few laughs, and overall, got to know each other better. Though I'd only known nine of them (not counting Ron) for a week at most, they were like family to me, and it was brilliant.

It was a long time after sunset before we all decided to head back and get some sleep. I strolled back to my room in the dark, and yawned loudly (even by my standards) as I dumped the bow and quiver on the chair, kicked off my shoes, and dozed off.

* * *

The next morning, I was awake and alert before the sun had properly risen. I climbed out of bed, changed my shirt to a different one, placed my boots back on, and ended up walking around Rivendell for a few hours, before breakfast. I ate a little, before going to the library, where I spend the time reading books on other things that I might need to know and didn't already.

I only left for lunch, and around 4, when I got bored reading, and thought that it would be a good idea to pack for tomorrow.

I found each item of clothing that I was taking and had it all laid out on the covers of my bed within ten minutes, before I searched for a bag (which I found in some drawer.) I packed everything I had decided on taking yesterday, and only left out my weapons, and what I would be wearing.

I left the bag somewhere near the door, and I walked out to do something else before dinner. I ended up trying to teach Ron how to fire a bow again, to no avail. So I decided to teach him how to throw knives and other things such as axes. This he picked up really fast, and I was quite impressed.

Ron was the one who brought up the idea of going to see the smithy, to get him another weapon. The visit wasn't long, and before you knew it, we were walking out of there, with Ron now holding and admiring his new axe.

He dropped it off in his room, as I headed up to dinner. That night, there was a feast held in the honour of the Fellowship. Tons of food, dancing and I think that Gimli had a drinking contest with Pippin, who had to be carried back to his room by Merry to sober off after an hour. That evening, Frodo also introduced me to his Uncle Bilbo, who was staying in Rivendell for a bit. The three of us had a lovely conversation that lasted a while, and before I knew it, we were sent off for sleep.

Tomorrow, when I woke would be it. We would leave for Mordor. Time to prove Boromir wrong, and actually walk into Mordor.


	9. The Departure of the Fellowship

I woke up to someone gently shoving my shoulder. I opened my eyes, but closed them soon after due to the sunlight streaming through the window. It took me a few seconds to recover from that, but I shielded my eyes with my hand the second time, before I opened them again to see who was shaking me.

Aristrana stood there, wearing a posh dress and circlet on her head. "M'lady, it's 7am, and a bath has been drawn for you." She whispered, as if it was some desperate secret that only I should hear. I sat up, and quietly yawned, covering my mouth with my hand.

"Thank you, Aristrana." I replied, as I climbed out of the covers and stood up.

"I also brought you up something to eat before you depart; everyone else in the Fellowship is eating in their rooms also." She added, indicating to the tray with toast and fruit on it, that was sitting on the bedside table. Aristrana nodded in politeness, to excuse herself and left the room.

I walked over to the chair where I left the clothes I would wear today, picked them up and then took them to the bathroom where sure enough, there was a drawn bath waiting for me. I shut the door and quickly undressed, un-platted my hair and sank into the warm water.

I knew that this bath would be the last proper wash I would be getting for a while, so I spent a good hour scrubbing my skin raw, and washing my hair as best as I could.

As the water lost all of its heat, I jumped out of the bath, dried off, dressed in my traveling outfit and headed back into the bedroom holding my dirty clothes in my arms.

I dropped the dirty clothes where I always leave the laundry and I noticed that there was a coat and a hand written note on the newly-made bed. The note read:

**_ The Fellowship is to leave Rivendell at 11am. Please be waiting in the courtyard before the front gates before that time._**  
**_Aristrana_**  
**_P.S. This white coat is for you. The fabrics are light, but very warm, and there are also hidden daggers up the sleeves that are retractable_**

I folded the note, and placed it back on the bed before picking up the coat and trying it on. It fit me perfectly; the material showing my figure in the right places. And it was so warm, like Aristrana said, and lightweight too.

What else did she say? 'Daggers up the sleeves?' That's so cool! I pulled the sleeve away from my arm a little, and sure enough, there was a blade there, held in place by a tiny latch. I undid the latch but nothing happened. I dropped my arms to the floor in disappointment, and I felt the dagger drop with the gravity too, just barely missing my thumb.

I held up my forearm vertically, expecting the dagger to retract, but on closer inspection, I saw that it had been locked in place by the latch. "Handy." I thought to myself, as I unlatched the dagger and it shot back into the sleeve. Letting go of the latch locked the dagger back into place.

I smiled, knowing that the daggers hidden in the sleeves must be there for a reason. I took off the jacket, and placed it back onto the bed beside the note, and I walked over to the bedside table, and ate some of the breakfast that was on the tray.

After eating all the fruit, I stood again and picked up the jacket, rolling it up (like you would roll up a carpet.) I then walked over to my bag and because there was no room inside, I had to fasten it to the outside with the large straps. I then picked up the bag, and walked over to the bed, jumped on it, where I sat for a while, cross-legged and eating toast while I braided my hair.

I was there for about two hours before I got bored, and wanted to find out what everyone else was doing. I hopped off the bed, walked over to the chair, picked up my cloak, weapons and bag before leaving the room, slinging the bag over my shoulder as I left.

I headed left, and eventually walked into the courtyard where we need to meet. Two people were already there. Sam was tending to Bill the pony, who was covered with bags and equipment, while Ron was just pacing. I walked over, and neither did anything to notice that I was there until I put my bag onto bill's back, on what must the last place for me actually place something.

Ron stopped pacing and looked at me, as I slung my quiver and bow over my shoulder, and attached my sword (and its scabbard) to my belt. I looked at the ginger moron, and saw that his mouth was almost touching the floor.

"Close your mouth, Ronald, or you'll end up eating the dirt." I commented, smirking. He just muttered 'shut up' and continued pacing, his mouth now closed. I looked over to Sam, who seemed to be thinking hard. "Are you alright?" I asked him, and his head shot up in my direction. He had a quick panicked expression on his face but it soon changed to a relaxed one.

"I'm fine." He replied dismissively, sounding tired.

"You sound really tired." I comment. "Did you get any sleep last night?" I ask, curious.

"Only around eight hours, which isn't enough for a Hobbit." He states.

I open my mouth to reply, but when I realize that I can't think of anything to say, I close it and turn around to look at the building as three more people are walking over. I snap my gaze over to them, and see Boromir, Legolas and Gandalf walking over. They are deep in conversation, so I leave them alone. Soon, Merry and Pippin join us, accompanied by Gimli (who I noticed would look nowhere near where Legolas was standing) and eventually, Frodo arrived, with Ranger-boy being last and arriving to meet us around ten minutes before we had to leave.

I was deep in conversation with Merry and Pippin about pranks, in which they entertained me by telling stories about their favourite pranks (and I said about some of mine) when Elrond came walking into the clearing, flanked by several Elves dressed smartly, one of them I recognised as Arwen, that Elf who managed to save Frodo after he got stabbed. She kept staring at Aragorn as if she was stopping herself running over to him and begging him not to go, or something.

We all went silent, and looked at Elrond as he began speaking. "The ring bearer is setting out on a quest for Mount Doom." He stated to the silence, and we all listened. "And you who travel with him, no oath nor bond is laid to go further than you will. Hold to your purpose, and may the blessings of Elves..." He looked at Legolas. "...and men..." H glanced at Boromir and Ron, "...and all free folk, go with you." He finished, and we all said thanks in our own way. Legolas and Ranger-boy bowed their heads, with an arm on their chest, and most of the rest of us just bowed our heads.

"The Fellowship awaits the Ring bearer." Gandalf announced, and we all looked to where Frodo was standing. He seemed to realise what was going on, and turned around and walked out of the gates of Rivendell. We all followed, nobody speaking, until Frodo quietly whispered to Gandalf (which I could hear clearly) "Mordor, Gandalf; is it left or right?" I smirked to myself, and stared at my feet, to hide my smile. He really does need our help, huh?

Gandalf didn't hesitate for a second, before whispering "Left" and I had to stop myself giggling aloud.


	10. Spies of Saruman

Celeste's POV:

For the next week, the 11 of us traveled over fields during the night, and slept during the day. I was one of the ones who was on look out most often, as I can hear things coming from ages away (though none of the others have asked why I can do that- too much explaining to do, if you ask me). The only other person who has been on look out more than me is Legolas, and the time I asked him about it, he just looked at me and said simply, 'Elves do not need sleep like others.' I decided to drop the subject.

On day eight, before midday and anyone had felt the slightest part of fatigue (as we had not walked far during the night and nobody had fallen asleep yet) we all sat down and tried to decide where we would head next. Well, Gandalf, Ron and Gimli, did so, while Legolas kept watch, Boromir taught Merry and Pippin how to fight with a sword, while Sam cooked food, and the rest of us watched.

I sat on the level plain, near the edge of a steep drop, where I watched the Hobbits parry Boromir's sword. And honestly, despite only learning for about an hour, they were quite good. I might have some real competition here! As I sat there in my bored state of mind, I got out my knife from my boot, and started throwing it in the air, and catching it by the hilt, and this went on for a while.

"Two, one, five." Boromir instructed, as he sparred with Pippin, with Ranger-boy shouting out tips every so often. After ten minutes of this, I stopped throwing my knife and just watched them. "Two, one, five." Boromir repeated, and Pippin blocked each attack, while Merry stood nearby, waiting for his turn, while observing his friend.

"You look good Pippin!" Merry exclaimed, clearly impressed by the skills his buddy had. Pip turned to Merry and said 'Thanks!' as Boromir then turned to Merry and did the same sword movements that he did to Pippin, only Merry didn't block them as flawlessly.

As he was doing that, I got this weird feeling that we were being watched by something, and I couldn't help but look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except when I looked at the blue sky, and the fluffy white clouds. It all seemed tranquil, apart from a large, dark thing that I can only assume is a cloud. It appeared odd, but I just couldn't put my finger on why.

I thought about saying something, but the idea was quickly dismissed when I _accidentally_ overheard Gimli complaining to Gandalf.

"Everyone must ask for my opinion, which I note they're **not!**" I heard him say. "I'd say we were taking the long way round!" He exclaimed to Gandalf, who he continued speaking to in a much calmer tone. "Gandalf, we could pass through the mine of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome!"

I turned around, so that I could see them talking, and I was hoping that Gandalf would look intrigued about the idea (I could clearly see Ron was eager to go.) but the old man wore an expression of worry on his face, and when he replied to Gimli, his voice was low and solemn.

"No, Gimli." He stated simple, and the Dwarf huffed in disappointment. "I would not go through Moria, unless I had no other choice."

Ron looked scandallised. "What?" He asked, moving closer to the two, seeming somewhat shocked. "Why?" He inquired, desperate to know why.

But Gandalf simply looked away from him, and his gaze wondered to where I was looking before, only - was it where I was looking before? The grey cloud looked closer than before, and as I glances at Gandalf, then the cloud, and finally back to him, I noticed he was wearing an expression that indicated the unknown, and possibly trouble.

He seemed to be thinking about what it could be, but he was distracted by a shout of pain from behind me, which gained everyone's attention. boromir (who had switched sparring partners, yet again) accidentally caught Pippin's thumb with his sword, which caused the hobbit to cry out, dropping his sword to the ground before cradling his hand.

Instantly, Boromir cringed and drew his weapon away. He shout apologies as he rushed over to Pip to see if he was okay, but a sneaky look on Merry's face told me that Pippin wasn't really injured and that Boromir had just set himself up for a prank.

And, as if on cue, Pippin kicked Boromir in the shin as hard as he could, and the guy shouted slightly, out of pain and shock. both of his hands shot to his shin, and like Pip had, he dropped his sword straight to the ground. As that happened, the two mischief makers glanced at one another, and as Pip nodded once, a grin spread across Merry's face. Merry then proceeded to clasp his hands together, and swing his arms out, hitting Boromir in the side. This caught him off guard, and he fell to the ground, landing harshly on his back.

He attempted to sit up, but Pippin just pushed him back down again, and shouted to Merry "Get him Merry!" and the two Hobbits jumped forward. They both grabbed one of Boromir's shoulders (and he had just managed to sit upright) and pushed him down again, and then sat on his chest, tickling him, while keeping him pinned to the ground.

I heard Ron begin guffawing with laughter, while Gandalf tutted in disapproval, before doing something else while Legolas turned away, back on watch as if nothing had happened. Sam and Frodo were still sitting in the same places, smirking like crazy, and Aragorn was laughing, as was Boromir. I had covered my mouth with hands to stop my uncontrollable laughter. It's amazing just how stupid people can be sometimes, but the consequences are hilarious to watch.

Soon enough, my laughter faded slightly but, Merry and Pippin showed no signs of stopping, and we needed to get the next direction of the journey to Mordor decided. The way I see it, there's two ways we could go (now that Gandalf said we won't be going through Moria). We could climb over the mountain path and possibly freeze to death, or we could head south and take a route that leads past Rohan and Isenguard. I hope that Gandalf was thinking about picking the latter. I don't fancy hiking up a mountain, and walking waist-deep (at least) in snow.

I think Aragorn realised this too, as he stopped laughing, put down his smoking pipe (something that's been out of fashion since the invention of the cigarette) and rose to his feet.

"Gentlemen, that's enough!" He stated, as he walked over to the two Hobbits, and stood behind them. He placed one hand on each of their shoulders, and tried to pull them away. But once again, Merry and Pippin looked at each other, before creating havoc. They stopped tickling Boromir and turned to Ranger-boy. They grabbed one of his shins each and in a split second, Merry and Pippin pulled violently. Aragorn's center of balance shifted dramatically and was thrown practically to the floor.

I couldn't help myself; I just had to laugh at this. I clasped both my hands over my mouth and nose ans I roared with laughter for a while.

But the laughs were short lived.

"What is it?" Sam questioned and we all turned to see what he looking at. You'll never guess what it was (!) That stupid cloud thing...

_oh... It's not a cloud._

Gimli waves his hand in a way that said the answer was simple. "It's nothing, just a wisp of clouds." He said matter-o-factly.

I stood up and turned around as everyone did similar, so that we were all facing it. "No it's not." I say and I can feel pretty much everyone's eyes turn to me. "It can't be."

"Why?" Boromir asks before I have a chance to continue. I turn around and look at him, as he rose to his feet.

Now I had a mili-second thinking time. I had no real reason that the cloud actually wasn't a cloud, except one. And sure enough a weak breeze picked up the moment I began speaking, helping prove my point. "Because the wind is blowing in the opposite direction."

The atmosphere tensed dramatically and for a few moments it was a stunned silence as they all took in what I'd just said, before Legolas shouted. "Crebain from Dunland!" He warned and I could see clearly now, that the not-cloud was a few hundred birds, all flying towards us at record speed.

"Hide!" Aragorn shouted and everyone kept to their feet, racing over to the rocks and bushes. They're heading up, how adorable!

I spied out of the corner of my eye, a cave about halfway down the cliff face below me. Knowing that would be my best chance for cover, as soon as everyone had begun sprinting for cover, I jumped over the edge, landing harshly on a small ledge that indicated the mouth of the cave.

I bent my knees on impact, sparring my spine from an injury and quickly stood up, pulling my hoof of my cloak over my head (at the same time) before finally running into the small cave with a second to spare, before the birds flew overhead.

The birds swooped overhead for a while, and several times I thought that someone had been spotted. But they left, maybe with no idea that we were here at all. I hope, anyway.

As soon as they were gone, I lowered my hood and made my way back out onto the small ledge. A quick glance up showed me that it was too far to climb up, without causing suspisions, and I really want the fact that I can turn into a Phoenix to remain a secret for the time being.

But I had to use that power now, to fly at least part of the way up.

So, without any more hesitation, I quickly transformed into the swan-sized mythical bird and swiftly (and silently) up, until I was around a meter and a half below where I need to be. There, I changed back and quickly grabbed onto two small rocky outcroppings, that stopped me from falling back down.

I tried to get a foothold straight away, but on the rocky terrain, one of my feet slipped, making some chunks of rock broke off and fell to the ground. It took a couple of seconds before I managed to get a stable rest and I was able to begin I slowly made my way skyward, I could hear somebody begin to speak. It hadn't occurred to me until then, about how long it would take everyone else to climb out of their hiding places. I wasn't that far to the top, when I heard my name being called. I placed both hands flat on the New level of ground, and in one huge test of upper body and leg strength, I push my body upwards, enough so that my head and shoulders were visible to everyone else.

"What?" I called, and I saw them all snap around to face me. Their faces showed everything from relief and panic, to horror and slight anger.

"What are you doing down there?" Ron asks, the first one to come out of his shock. He walks over and helps me to my feet.

"Hiding." I reply simply, and Ron casts a look over the edge.

"But that's a 30 meter drop!" He exclaims in a whisper, as we walk back over to where the rest are.

"27 and a half, but you know - _who's counting?_" I say, as if it was a simple thing.

"Celeste." Ron hisses at me. "It's not funny!" He stops walking and goes to say more. But I ignore him and continue walking over to the other nine.

"So, what do we do now?" Merry asks, to nobody in particular. There is silence for a while as everyone thinks, before Gandalf answers.

"The passage south is being watched." He states. _Damn. _That leaves us with only one possible route, if he ruled out Moria... "We must take the Pass of Caradhras."

We all turn and look at the snowy mountain range nearby.

_Great(!) _I think. **_More _**_snow, and it all looks really deep._


	11. Hello Cold World

Celeste's POV:

So, we ended up walking up Caradhras, in two feet of snow. And it kept getting deeper as we got further up.I'm normally a huge fan of snow, but after what happened last time I was in it, I wasn't that keen to step in it again. I kept myself calm, but on the inside, I was honestly freaking out. And not coming from a Mary Sue position, but I just don't want anything bad to happen, or for anyone to get hurt. In most of the silences that followed, I kept reliving the moment on the school grounds, over and over again in my head.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked me, snapping me out of reliving that moment for the 20th time. I looked at him, and I didn't respond. He continued. "You look kind of uncomfortable."

I looked forward and continued trying to get through the snow and harsh incline. "Snow is ruined for me." Is all I whispered to him.

"Yeah, me too." He replied, and I understood entirely. He kept thinking what happened was _his _fault.

"It's not your fault, what happened, you understand that, right." I state to him, as I focus on untying my plait, to cover my neck from the harsh winds. He looked at me, as I brushed my hand through my scarlet hair. "It's mine. I take full responsibility."

"No you don't, Cel. Don't be stupi-" He began, but I cut him off.

"I don't remember it being _you _who ran outside." I snapped, and I felt terrible. Tears stung my eyes, and in the uncomfortable silence that followed, one discreetly fell down my face.

We were all about halfway up the side of the mountain now, and the snow was still deep. I pulled my hood up, as I wiped the tear away, but my footing slipped. My left foot didn't get far enough out of the snow and I fell on my face. Well, almost.

Ron, who reacted quickly, managed to grab me under my arms, so I didn't fall entirely into the snow, only up to my knees. I quickly stood up again, thanked Ron and carried on walking.

"Hey." Ron said, grabbing my attention. "I've been thinking about something..." He drifted off, and I braced myself for the questioning. "Since when have you been able to fight with a sword, and a bow and arrow? I've never seen you practice." I sighed. Not the question I've been dreading.

"Well, my Aunt Hayley and her husband taught me." I explained. "She married a muggle martial arts instructor, who also teaches sword fighting and archery. They've both been teaching me every summer since I was turned 7."

"Why?" Ron asked. I shrugged, wrapping my arms around myself, to try and make myself warmer.

"No idea." I admitted, racking my brain. "Although my mum said it was so I could defend myself if anything happened. Convenient, really. I also practice at Hogwarts, too."

"I don't think I've ever seen you practice though."

"That's because I sneak out of Gryffindor tower every Saturday and Sunday I have free, and head to a hidden, deserted classroom on the third floor. It's near where Fluffy used to be hiding."

Fluffy was Hagrid's 3 headed guard dog. He was one of the obstacles we had to get past in our first year, to save the Philosopher's stone from Voldemort.

"People still don't go near th-?" He's cut off from answering, as there was a shout from behind us and we both turned around to look.

We looked in time, to see Frodo fall over in the snow, and roll downhill a little before Aragorn stopped him from rolling any further, and helped him sand up again. Instantly after rising to his feet, Frodo began checking under his shirt for the chain with the Ring on. his searching became frantic; his face showed terror, and I realised then, that while he was rolling in the snow, the chain cam off from around his neck.

Something small glistened in the snow, quite close to where Boromir was standing, which he noticed, and he picked it up. _The Ring._

"Boromir." I heard Aragorn warn, his eyes fixed on Boromir.

"It is a strange fate, that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing." He muttered to himself, but it was loud enough so that we could all hear it. "So small a thing." He muttered even quieter, and pulled the Ring closer to himself.

"Boromir!" Aragorn snapped again, and this time, I could see Boromir snap out of his trance. He lifted his head to look at Aragorn. "Give the Ring to Frodo." He stated, with an expression set like stone. Boromir stepped backwards, hesitated for a second, before finally giving back the Ring to Frodo.

"As you wish." He states, holding the chain out. Frodo quickly snatched it away, and slipped the Ring back around his neck. "I care not." Boromir ruffled Frodo's hair, before turning around, and beginning to walk up the mountain again. Everyone stared at him for a few seconds before we began walking too.

* * *

The winds grew harsher and the light snow turned into a full on blizzard the higher we climbed up the mountain. It wasn't long before the snow was past the heads of the Hobbits, meaning they had to be carried.

Gandalf led the way, charging through the snow with Boromir behind him, carrying Merry and Pippin, then me, the Aragorn carrying Sam and Frodo. Ron brought up the rear, leading Bill who had Gimli on his back. Legolas walked on top of the snow (Which I thought was unfair) so he would scout ahead, giving directions.

My hood was over my head, but the wind keeps pulling it down again. Half of the time, I was trying to hold it up, or keeping myself warm.

When we were almost reaching halfway over, Gandalf slowed to get us past a really big snow drift, with Legolas looking out over the edge of the path - into a ravine we knew was there, only it wasn't visible in the snowy conditions. The wind was at its all time highest, and we had to keep staring at our feet with our heads bent, to stop the snow from flowing into our eyes. I kept my hands glued to the sides of my hood, and just focusing on self control, to stop myself freezing to death. That tactic lasted about a millisecond. My lips were cracked, my teeth chattering away, and I had to wrap my arms around me, to try and avoid pneumonia. I heard just over the wind, Legolas shout something to us.

"There is a fell voice on the air." Was on the lines of what he said.

"It's Saruman!" I heard Gandalf roar in response. I heard a crack - like thunder - above us, and I looked to see massive chunks of rock from the top of the mountain tumble down towards us. Everyone slammed themselves into the cliff face to our left, with the debris that fell past us moments later only just missing us all. If this actually _was _Saruman, then he is a total Bastard.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn shouted from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him. " We must turn back!" He yelled to Gandalf.

"No!" He replied, looking pretty desperate. He turned back around, and stood higher out of the snow, abandoning the snow drift, before raising his staff and chanting something into the wind. It didn't do anything.

Another crack sounded, and a bolt of lightning struck the snow on the top of the mountain. And a loud rumbling sound made Sam look up. He gasped, and I turned to look at him. He wore an expression of panic, and his eyes were wide with fear. Following his gaze, my eyes looked up to the sky to discover what made him gasp.

Tons and tons of snow was falling towards us; we were all standing under an avalanche. "_Oh _shit." I muttered, and at the same time, everyone else looked upwards. Once again, we all lurched into the ragged mountain side with a yell, and took a massive breath, as the snow fell on top of us, cutting off the air, and the light that I had. The coldness hit me first; the wet slush dripped around me and down my back, and I cringed, catching my breath and temporarily freezing in shock.

After I got over it, I began clawing up in the dark, to try and get out. I stretched and found the top of the snow pile I was buried in. I had a split second's light and air, before the snow fell around my arm, and blocked it out again, dropping my body temperature in the process. I clawed my left hand out, and attempted to get rid of the snow from the outside.

But I was losing oxygen, yet I kept going. I didn't manage it. I could feel myself going light-headed, seconds away from passing out. But before I could, someone grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the snow. I gasped in air, when my head and shoulders cleared the drift, and the cold winds brought me back to my senses. I was so cold, I thought I was going to cry. I closed my eyes to fight off the feeling. I was shivering uncontrollably, and the person who pulled me out of the snow, wrapped their arms around me, and pulled me closer.

I kinda felt better instantly, but I wasn't out of the woods yet, and neither anyone else. I heard a distant debate over where we'd go next; Boromir suggested heading near Isenguard - to Gondor - but Aragorn dismissed the idea. Gimli suggested heading to Moria (again...) and I opened my eyes to see how Gandalf would take it. I could only see his face- seeing as how we were all still (to an extent) buried in the snow - and he looked pretty _frightened. _As if he knew something about Moria that we didn't. He was silent for a moment, thinking I guess, before he spoke again.

"Let the Ring-bearer decide." He responded. Oh that's kind(!) Passing on all the weight onto Frodo's shoulders. We all glanced over to him, and he stared back at us all, wide-eyed and panicked. He began thinking quickly, debating with himself. The silence from him was painful, and my mind strayed to other things; mainly the fact that I was freezing! I pulled my hood over my head, and all the snow that was caught in my hood, fell down my back, once again lowering my body temperature.

I squealed quietly and tears brimmed my eyes, as the feeling of cold returned. My nose burned, and just when I thought that it was going to be fine, I sneezed. Great, a cold(!) I opened my eyes again, and glanced up at who was holding me. Legolas was who I saw, and he didn't glance back, he was just looking at the others- though we were all standing in a sort of line.

I glanced back at Frodo, just as he began to speak again, giving us his decision. "We will go through the mines." He stated clearly, and I snapped my head back to Gandalf, to see him sigh in fustration (though it was well hidden).

"So be it." He stated. Legolas let go of me, and we all began walking back down the mountain, with us all freezing in the snow, that had somehow managed to return to where it started off.


End file.
